Anti-Age Me
by Captain Zex
Summary: After a horrible potions accident, Miss Hermione Granger is reverted back to her three year old self. How will the Potions Master cope when he is forced to look after her and how will he get her back to normal? Set in the Trio's sixth year. Please ignore the book for now.
1. Chapter 1

**And I'm back!**

**I haven't written anything in so long and I am so very sorry.**

**This particular stor is being writted in the middle of the night and won't be my best work, but it's a quick fix to help me get back into the swing of things.**

**I hope it is readable enough and that you enjoy it.**

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Thursday always meant double potions, which in turn meant that the sixth year Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs would be brewing a less than easy potion. As the bell rang to signal the end of Charms, Hermione hurried down to the dungeons. She always arrived before everyone else which gave her the choice of any table; even though she had sat at the same one her entire schooling life. Placing her bag under the table, Hermione didn't bother getting out a quill and parchment for she knew that they would be brewing and instead read the instructions on the board. She went to the storage cupboards and when she returned with the needed ingredients the classroom had started to fill with students.

Setting everything up, she then waited the arrival of her ever dramatic potions master Severus Snape. As if on cue the man in black came billowing into the classroom shouting for everyone to read the board, they would be working in pairs and that they had two hours to create the potion it described. He momentarily glanced at Grangers table and was not surprised that she had already done that and was being bombarded by her fellow classmates for her partnership. He rolled his eyes before sitting behind his desk to grade papers.

He looked up to see that the resident know-it-all had signalled for Longbottom to join her. Probably to give him a passing grade; something he was in desperate need of. He knew that he could remain seated for a while before he needed to start stalking the rows of trembling students, but his gut told him that this was a potion that might cause problems. Sighing heavily, Severus stood and began slowly pacing between each row; starting from the front he watched has Granger gave simple instructions the bumbling idiot she called a lab partner. He weaved his way through each pair and glanced over certain students' shoulders just to make sure they weren't falling too far behind.

Hermione's brain raced, she had never brewed and anti-aging potion before and there were at least three times as many instructions as a normal potion. She had made sure that she stirred every two minutes counter clockwise ending with one clockwise stir while adding ingredients as she went. She had given Neville the job of slicing, dicing, and squashing the herbs and such before they went into the cauldron. He was doing a great job, but every time their professor passed by, she noticed his hand shaking. She had tried to encourage him to stay calm, but it only worked while Professor Snape was at the back of the room.

As the hour rolled by Hermione needed Neville to start adding things while she chopped; at this point the potion needed lots of things added and all of them had different things that needed to be done. So with a smile and a pat on the back, Hermione turned to light up a second cauldron to stew the belladonna, pawpaw, virgins blood and several other ingredients while Neville was left to soldier on. Severus had just started another lap, but had stared at Neville's cauldron longer than was necessary and had set the boy on edge.

As Longbottom panicked he neglected to grind the unicorn hair into a fine powder and simply dropped the clump into the boiling potion whole. Upon realising his mistake a long "uuuummm" sound escaped his lips causing Hermione to turn around. Her eyes widened and she began to undo her school robes as she watched the potion fume and boil angrily. The commotion grabbed the potion master's attention and he circled back to take away house points.

Just as he was about to shout at Neville for his carelessness three things happened: Neville panicked and hid under the neighbouring table, Hermione attempted to throw her robe of the potion to mask the fumes and the potion exploded. A thick blue cloud of smoke erupted from the cauldron as the explosion sent the Professor tumbling backward and the students evacuated the room. Regaining his footing, Severus rushed forward and tried to clear the mess away; he knew the smoke was not harmful, but the actual potion.

As he pulled out his wand he pointed it at the window sending it flying open helping air out the room, but that's when he saw her. Lying on the ground in a puddle of the volatile liquid was what he expected to be Hermione Granger only a lot smaller. Not only smaller, but younger and if her had to guess he would say around three years old. He could see the Neville boy unconscious on the floor under a table, but he otherwise seemed unharmed. He quickly vanished the potion and carefully approached the child. Her clothes were much too big for her and looked more like a patchwork blanket; the only thing cushioning her head from the cold floor was her unruly mane.

The potions master bent down and picked up the sleeping infant; she was so tiny in his hands and her thumb was stuck in her mouth as she gently sucked on it. He wrapped her clothes around her better and hung his head; Albus was going to have his head for this.

Knowing what was waiting just outside the dungeon door, Severus actually hesitated leaving, but he knew that the Headmaster needed to be informed. He straightened his posture and put the meanest scowl in place as her sent the door flying open with a bang. The pile of students waiting to see if they could return to their potions were gobsmacked to see the Professor holding a child, but none dared question him.

"Mister Finnegan, please go and wake Mister Longbottom and help him to the infirmary," Snape looked uncomfortable, "Potter, Weasley, accompany me to the Headmasters office."

He was glad that the boys had enough sense to simply nod instead of bombard him with questions; his scowl wavered only slightly when he felt the form in his arms stir awake. Big golden eyes looked up at him and he was greeted with a yawn and a smile.

"Everyone will receive 'Acceptable' for their potions." His voice was not nearly as harsh as usual and he didn't turn away from the child in his arms.

The students whispered, but again didn't voice their opinions about their Professor being crazy or where he had gotten a child from. Severus started walking up the many flights of stairs to reach Albus's office with the two concerned teens behind him. Somewhere along the trip the young Hermione had gotten it into her head that Severus was her own private jungle gym and was happily climbing all over him. To his credit, the man in question kept a calm look on his face as he allowed the child poke and prod his face, as well as tell him that his hair was pretty. Eventually she settled with looking over his shoulder at the two boys following them. She smiled and waved at them, her hand not visible behind the long sleeve school shirt. Both Harry and Ron stifled their laughter in fear of enraging their Professor, but they both admitted that his patience was amazing.

Once they reached the gargoyles and Snape spoke the password, small Hermione looked on in shock as the staircase spiralled upwards. Her wide eyes turned to Severus and he nearly smiled at her look of utter wonderment as he marched up the stairs. He knocked loudly of the wooden door before opening it and allowing the boys to go ahead of him. The door shut behind him and he stood in the Headmasters office holding the infant version of Hermione Granger. Albus had his head down as he scribbled on a piece of parchment.

"Severus my boy, and to what do I owe the pleasure?" Dumbledore didn't look up as he spoke.

"I have terrible news Headmaster." Snape's voice wavered.

"I'm sure whatever Mister Potter and Mister Weasley have done this time cannot be considered terrible." He smiled as he spoke, but still stared at the Ministry piece of paperwork.

"There was an accident sir." Weasley spoke carefully.

This grabbed the Headmasters attention and no sooner had he looked up did a quiet "oh" escape his mouth as he watched the small child in Severus' arms wave excitedly at him. He placed his quill down on his desk and stood before making his way towards his guests. His half moon spectacles shone when the light hit them as he walked across the room.

"Is this Miss Granger?" His voice sounded as shocked as Severus felt.

"Yes," Severus held her out and Dumbledore grabbed her and smiled gently at the child who played with his beard, "They were working on an anti-aging potion when her cauldron exploded. If I am correct sir, unicorn hair could be the reason."

At this the Headmaster frowned, "But Miss Granger would know better than to add too much."

"It was a paired activity." Severus grumbled as he felt the beginnings of a headache. Longbottom was a constant source of a headache for him.

Albus seemed to understand and took Hermione to sit with him at his desk, he opened the first drawer and pulled out a paper bag of assorted candy and allowed her the grab a handful. Hermione sat quietly on the elderly mans knee as she placed the candy on the desk and ate them one by one. The group watched her little habit in silence until she came to the last piece of chocolate; at that moment she jumped off of the Headmasters knee and walked right up to Severus. She held out her chubby little hand and offered the chocolate the scariest teacher in the school and to both Harry and Ron's surprise he took it and ate it. Hermione smiled and giggled all the way back to Albus who picked her up and plonked her on his desk where she happily watched all the little moving knick-knacks.

"Merlin, Severus!" Albus finally looked at the Slytherin's face, "You look about ten years younger!"

"I must have gotten some of the potion on me." Snape grumbled, but mostly because of the whole situation.

"Still, this is a very serious matter Severus," Dumbledore's voice held an air of warning to it; "An aging potion takes a long time to brew."

Severus knew that had he not brought along the child Hermione and her two friends, he would be on the receiving end of a very harsh lecture; which is why they were here. Although the Headmaster was not yelling at him, Severus felt that something bad was going to happen nonetheless.

"I understand Headmaster; a proper aging potion may take up to several months to brew."

"Why does it take so long?" The Weasley boy had remained fairly silent, but Snape still rolled his eyes.

"My dear boy," Albus smiled, "An aging potion needs to age for it to be affective and because Miss Granger is so young she will need an old potion to bring her back to normal."

"But who will look after her?" Harry looked worried, "You can't send her home…"

The room filled quickly with a heavy silence as they all remembered the night last year when they found out that Hermione's parents had been killed in a Death eater attack. She had since been living on her own in an apartment she bought after her family home was sold.

"Mum could take care of her." Ron piped up, "I reckon she would love to take care of a baby, especially a girl."

"Although I am sure that Molly would be an excellent baby sitter Mister Weasley, I had a different person in mind." Albus looked directly at Severus who suddenly felt very uneasy.

"Headmaster, I can't." He could only force those words past the lump in his throat.

"Severus, is an accident in a Professor's classroom solely their responsibility?"

"Yes, but…"

"And the responsibility, should something happen to a student that doesn't need a medical professional around at every turn, be left up to the person in charge of the student at the time of the accident."

"I don't see how that…"

"Severus," Albus' voice stopped him in his tracks, "I know what I'm saying may sound like a request, but it's not."

The room became tense; the boys had never heard their Headmaster speak that way to a staff member, let alone Snape. Oblivious to the tension in the room, the young Hermione hopped off of the tall wooden desk. She stumbled as she tried to move while wearing the button up shirt like a dress. Grabbing the extra material, Hermione ran to Severus and tried to climb up his leg; he eventually bent down and picked her up.

"Yes?" He asked, defeated.

"I'm hungry." Her big eyes seemed to widen and her bottom lip slightly pouted.

"I think you should take her to the Great Hall for lunch Severus, it's about that time." Just as the words were spoken the bell rang to signal lunch.

"But where will she sit?" Severus was trying desperately to save his dignity, but he knew it was no use.

"With you of course." Dumbledore's eye sparkled as he stood and opened the door, ushering them all out, "And Severus, do fix that shirt of hers before she trips."

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**As usual I hope to hear what you think. The second chapter sould already be posted, but that shouldn't stop you.**

**-Captain Zex**


	2. Chapter 2

**Second chapter up and running.**

**Enjoy.**

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The door was shut behind them and Severus placed Hermione on the ground, he pointed his wand at her and transfigured the shirt into a better fitting dress. The young girl gasped before twirling around before coming to a complete stop and looking almost horrified. Severus was curious when she pulled on his trousers and motioned for him to come closer. He crouched down and let her cup her hand around his ear as she told him her secret.

"I got no undies." She whispered loud enough so that both the boys could still hear and they all blushed.

Quickly, Severus took out the hanker chief from his pocket and changed them into a simple pair of underwear. He held them open and allowed the child to grasp his arms as she stepped into them; he averted his eyes as he let her pull them up herself. He spun around and pointed his wand at the two Gryffindors who had watched him play dad.

"Not a word you two." He watched as the both nodded furiously before running off to lunch. "Merlin, help me."

He sighed as he picked up the girl and propped her on his hip, her tiny hand grasped his teacher's robes as he marched towards the great hall. The hall was already filled with students by the time he got there, but he held his head high as he walked straight up the middle of the tables with a three year old girl on his hip.

He tried to ignore the fact that everyone was staring at him, but it made things harder when the child Hermione seemed to want to wave at everybody. When he finally made it to the teachers table he found that there wasn't a spare seat for her to sit on and he sighed again as he sat down with her on his lap. Although he was scowling, he couldn't work out why students still insisted on looking at him. If only he could see the huge smile on Hermione's face as she beamed at the entire school body.

When the food magically appeared in front of them Hermione let out a yelp and turned to hide in Severus' chest. Several of the female students let out a series of "aww" and "how cute". It took a bit, but Snape got Hermione to turn around and see that it was just food and her eyes grew with surprise. There was more food on in front of him than usual and Severus suspected he was to feed the child off of his own plate.

"Rotten old codger." He mumbled as he shuffled Hermione to sit on his left knee so he could feed her.

She obeyed and sat quietly waiting for him to pick up his spoon and scoop up some chicken soup. Just as he was about to feed the child his soup he noticed the steam coming off of it and blew it to cool it down. As he was feeding Hermione; scooping the soup, blowing it, he could have swore he heard Minerva say "oh bless" while she held her hand to her chest. Suddenly there was a small hand trying to grab the spoon from his hand.

"I try, I try." Hermione smiled as Severus let go of the spoon and let her feed herself.

"Careful, it's hot." Severus watched as she blew the spoonful of soup and put it in her mouth.

Several more girls could be heard saying how cute the little girl on Snape's lap was and that he looked different. Hermione finished feeding herself, leaving Severus to eat what was left of his lunch. Once he had eaten, Severus remembered that he still had classes and his potions rooms where still a mess. He sighed for what felt like the hundredth time and stood up as he excused himself from the table. Hermione climbed to look over his shoulder as the left and shouted her goodbyes to the Great Hall and to Snape's surprised they answered her.

As he entered his potions room, Severus nearly audibly cursed as he looked at the blue stained room. Every surface seemed to be coated and then he remembered that his class had left their cauldrons burning. He set Hermione on his hip and pulled out his wand and a bit of foolish wand waving later had the room fairly clean. The little girl on his side smiled crazily at the display of magic and Snape wondered how much she remembered of her older self. He marched up to his desk and sat Hermione on the edge of it and told her not to move, she nodded and watched the tall dark man go and fetch something off of the floor.

Reaching down he grabbed Hermione's old clothes and bundled them into his desk drawer just as students began filing into his rooms. His stood tall in front of his desk when he felt a slight pulling on his robes, he turned to see Hermione standing on his desk.

"Yes?" He looked down at her and she looked embarrassed.

"What's your name?" She asked ever so sweetly as she held her dress and did a nervous swaying dance.

"Severus."

"Sev'rus." She repeated back and smiled.

He turned back around and scowled at the room full of children; he had third year Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs. Luckily, this lesson was theory and wouldn't need much pacing through rows. He waved his wand and the books on the back shelf came floating into view while distributing themselves onto people's tables. Once everyone had a book he began his lecture.

"Open your books to page 36, chapter 2." He waited a moment then continued, "This chapter outlines the uses of potions throughout different time periods and their changes during those periods. The following chapter will talk about the use of potions in different countries. Your task this lesson will be to read both chapters, pick a country and write a foot long essay on the potions found in that country and how they have changed since being discovered."

The class would have groaned had it been any other Professor, but not a single sound could be heard.

"These essays with be due Tuesday."

With one last look at the class his sat behind his desk and continued to grade papers. Hermione sat watching the class until it became boring.

"Sev'rus?" She was crawling across his desk before she sat in front of him; he looked up "I'm bored."

"What is it you wish to do?" Having never looked after anyone younger than eleven, Severus was at a loss.

"Can I draw?"

"I do not have anything you could draw with."

At that moment he noticed a hand in the air.

"What is it Miss Harridge?" He then noticed the amount of students watching him.

"I have some pencils she can use." The fourth year Hufflepuff looked down right frightened, but she still held out the box of coloured pencils.

Severus nodded at Hermione who flew off the desk and walked over the girl, she grabbed the pencils and said thank you before racing back to the desk. Many students watched as she used their Professor as a ladder to get back onto the desk. He handed her a few pieces of parchment before glaring at his class so that they got back to work. Hermione spent the rest of the class quietly drawing flowers and a house while Severus cursed the old man who was making him take care of her. Hell, the only reason he hadn't shouted at her yet was because the thing he hated more than children, was crying children.

Once the bell rang to end the class, Severus merely glared at his class so they would leave quietly and hopefully the next hour would go smoothly. His last class of the day were seventh year Slytherins and Ravenclaws and although the class wouldn't need much attention with their level of potion making, one could never be too sure.

He knew that Dumbledore had fed the school the lie that Hermione was seriously injured in the explosion and was at St Mungo's, but the child was harder to explain. To Severus' surprise, Albus hadn't said anything about her; probably in hopes that the students would over look the fact that she was there completely. That man was making life very difficult for him and he had no idea how he was going to explain himself once news got back to the Dark Lord.

He watched as the young Hermione lay on her stomach drawing, carelessly swaying her legs back and forth. In that moment he could almost forget who she really was; the hand waving, insufferable know-it-all. In that moment she was just a child who was obeying every parental figure who would look at her. She didn't have a clue who he was or why she should do as she's told, but she was and he was grateful she was so well behaved. Knowing that his Slytherins would cause trouble he decided to hide her from them, just in case. He cleared his throat to grab the little girls' attention and watched as she instantly put down the pencils and turned to him with her big golden eyes.

"My next class should be arriving soon and I thought you might like to play a game." The words sounded strange on his lips.

Her eyes lit up with the sense of excitement and he didn't his best to look less harsh; not going as far as to smile, but soften his features a bit. Severus really had no idea how to deal with children; the only memories of his parents were his father's beatings and his mother insisting he was the best. He wasn't sure how Grangers parents raised her, but from what he could tell, she had a much better childhood than him.

"If you like, you can hide under my desk." Her face dimmed a bit, "I can place some charms on it so it looks like a jungle." He recovered quickly.

His desk was quite large and would make a nice little hideaway for the child. He pushed his chair out and performed some fancy wand work before he was satisfied with the miniature jungle located under his desk. There was a thick covering of moss on the floor with vines hanging down and wild flowers growing everywhere. He had charmed it with a bubbled silencing charm and knew that if he stuck his head under there he would hear ambient jungle sounds.

The whole time, Hermione sat patiently on his desk until he was ready. When he signalled for her to come forward she grabbed her drawing things and scootered along the desk. Severus picked her up and placed her down on the floor. As she turned around, the young girl let out a squeal of excitement; the jungle looked like it would go on forever, but she knew it didn't. She was so happy she hugged and thanked Severus' legs and he nearly laughed at her face once she had crawled under the desk and could hear the sounds.

She had ducked out of sight just as the first student walked in and Severus stood a little taller and looked a little meaner than he had a second ago. The classes brewing went without a hitch and he even went so far as to call it a pleasant surprise. Every now and then there would be a tiny '_thunk_' sound which he could only assume was when Hermione's shoe accidently hit his actual desk. As students came up to his desk to hand in their vials of third grade healing balm he could feel a panicked pulling on his trouser pants leg. He waited until the last student was out the door, by which time the yanking had grown furiously, before he looked down. Hermione quickly crawled out and started doing the strangest dance.

"I need to pee." She said as she danced from foot to foot.

Severus sighed and walked over to his private room door behind the storage shelves and could hear Hermione's little feet against the stone floor behind him. He lowered he wards on his door before opening it and ushering the child inside. Snape shut the door and redid the wards before turning and walking over to one of the doors across the way. He nodded and Hermione raced into the bathroom and slammed the door behind her.

Once she was done she opened the doors to find Severus on the couch in front of the fire, she raced over to him and jumped into his lap. He did not hug her, but also didn't tell her to get off; he merely stared at her and she sat on his knees facing him. She smiled, but the smile quickly faded and he could see she wanted to ask something.

"Sev'rus?" Her eyes on his.

"Yes?" He almost sighed again. There was a long pause before she answered and he was just about to tell her off for wasting his time when she spoke.

"Where's my mummy and daddy?" Her whole face seemed to ask the question and for once Severus was at a loss for words.

He tried to look away. The subject of the Grangers deaths was still a sore spot for him; their house had been deliberately targeted. Had he not feed the Dark Lord false information, Hermione herself would have been killed, but he knew she was at the Weasleys. He could not get out of it; he had been there when the house was rampaged and had heard the screams. But when he looked into this young girl's eyes he knew he had to lie.

"They've gone on a long holiday." His insides turned as the words left his mouth; never had a lie tasted so disgusting.

To his surprise she didn't ask any more questions on the matter and instead shifted forward until she was sitting in his lap with head on his chest. She didn't ask for a story or a glass of water; she just lay there until she fell asleep. After a while Severus grabbed his wand and conjured the book has was reading to hover in front of him. He sat there reading while Hermione slept for a good hour before he heard his stomach growl. Dinner would be staring soon and he was getting very hungry, so he put his book down and gently rocked the girl on his lap.

"Miss Gran…. Hermione," He whispered, "You have to wake up now."

She stirred and made strange half spoken sounds as she yawned and stretched herself awake. Her hair had gone even wilder in her movements and Snape summoned his brush. As soon as the little girl saw the brush in his hands she tried to run away with a string of "nononono" as she went. Severus became irritated and shouted at her from across the room.

"Here. Now." His deep voice made her cry silently, but she walked back to him nonetheless.

He pointed to the edge of couch between his legs and she sat down still crying and Severus soon found out why. As he put the brush at the top of her head and went to pull down it, but it instantly go stuck and she cried out in pain. He carefully pulled it out without causing much more pain and thought for a second.

Maybe her parents just ripped the brush through her hair instead of starting at the bottom. Snape then grabbed her hair in his hand and gently brushed the ends until there were no more knots. He slowly moved higher until the brush glided through her hair with no problems. Hermione turned around and wiped her tears away and quietly thanked the tall dark man for not hurting her.

Severus then stood and picked Hermione up as he went, resting her back on his hip he started his long walk to the Great Hall. He knew that young girl could walk fine, but he tended to walk fast and he was really hungry. He marched right up to the Head table and sat Hermione on his lap again, silently fuming that Albus was yet to give her a chair. As the rest of the school filed in, he absentmindedly bounced Hermione on his knee and she giggled as he did. Soon the nightly feast appeared in front of them and Severus piled food onto his plate ready to eat. He added a bit extra for the tiny person on his knees and started cutting things into bite sized portions.

Just as he stabbed a piece of steamed broccoli and went to give it to Hermione, she stuck out her tongue and turned her head away. The small action grabbed a few people's attention and Severus tried hard not to yell at her. He inspected the vegetable to see if there was something wrong with it, but when he found nothing he tried again, Again, Hermione turned away and refused to eat it.

"Do you not like broccoli?" He asked with as much patience as he could.

"No." She grunted and even folded her arms as she turned away.

"Have you had it before?" Severus' iconic eyebrow rose with the question.

"No." This time she closed her eyes hoping the green thing would go away.

"How do you know that you don't like it when you have never eaten it before?" This grabbed Hermione's attention, but her arms remained crossed.

"I just know I won't like it."

Severus shook his head, typical know-it-all. "What if you just try this piece? If you don't like it then I will happily eat the rest."

Hermione seemed to consider it for a moment, but still remained unconvinced. Severus' patience was wearing thin and there was a small vein on his temple that started to throb.

"What if you pretend that you're a giant and these are little trees?"

Hermione giggled and opened her mouth to try the broccoli. The whole school seemed to be on tenterhooks as she chewed the vegetable. Finally she swallowed and then reached for another piece, only this time she did a mighty roar first before biting down on the 'tiny tree'. A few students laughed and went back to their meal while some continued to watch as Hermione ate the rest of her meal as if she was a giant.

She didn't even pause when it came to a brussle sprout, she just shouted, "Tiny cabbage!" before eating it. Severus ate his dinner around the 'giant' on his lap and found he didn't even mind when she started playing with her food, telling little stories as she did. At least she was eating everything. She even went back for seconds, but that was mostly the smash things around instead of actually eat them.

Severus could see Albus and Minerva chuckling to themselves, but they were smart enough to not say anything. When dinner was finished, Snape used a napkin to wipe Hermione's face and hands before picking her up and billowing out of the Great Hall. He made his way to the dungeons but was all too aware of the twin footsteps behind him. Spinning around he was met by a puffed Harry and Ron.

"What do you want Potter?" He sneered at them and they tried to catch their breath.

"We wanted to say goodnight, sir." Weasley said, "To Hermione that is."

"She doesn't know you." Severus raised his eyebrow, "Clearly she doesn't even know who I am or she wouldn't be so comfortable climbing all over me." He snapped and he noticed Hermione looking at his with sad eyes.

"We know sir," Harry piped up, "But we know her and it can't hurt."

Severus contemplated just telling them no to see their faces, but Potter was right. He also knew that if he segregated Hermione from the boys, they would just go to Dumbledore and Severus wasn't talking to him at the moment.

"You have ten minutes to establish a friendship then bring her to the dungeons." He handed over Hermione to Weasley, "Not a second longer."

With a billowing of his cloak, Snape retreated to the dungeons for a moment of alone time. Left in the middle of the corridor with a three year old had the two boys stumped; they didn't think he would actually agree. Ron put Hermione on the floor, then sat down and waited until Harry joined them. Thinking she was supposed to, Hermione also sat down and smiled at the two boys she had seen once before.

"My name is Ron." Weasley held out his hand and Hermione giggled as she shook it.

"And I'm Harry." He too held out his hand and again Hermione laughed and shook it.

"My name is Hermione." The little girl blushed and held out both her hands for the boys to shake.

"Have you had fun today?" Ron asked and Hermione nodded her head furiously.

"What did you do?" Harry smiled at her over enthusiasm.

"I did a drawing and then Sev'rus made me a jungle to play in." She smiled wildly as she remembered the jungle under the desk.

Both the boy looked utterly shocked; their mean old potions master had actually been nice to a child. The listened as she talked about how she could hear monkeys and tigers and how she had played with the flowers that grew there. She went into great detail about the floor and just how soft it was; comparing it to rabbits ears and clouds.

"Then I had a nap and he brushed my hair," She then looked around like she was about to tell a secret, "And it didn't even hurt."

"Well that was very nice of him." Harry had sounded more shocked than he wanted to, but he couldn't help it.

"Well, we had better take you back then, wouldn't want to make Snape mad." Ron stood up and offered his hand to Hermione.

She took it and grabbed Harry's hand as well as they made their way to the dungeons. As soon as they arrived, the door flew open to reveal Professor Snape. Hermione jumped up and down shouting his name as she ran towards him and started climbing up his legs. He bent down and picked her up and allowed everyone to say their goodnights before closing the door and heading to his rooms.

Once inside he placed her back down and looked at her; she had food on her dress, her feet were dirty from not wearing shoes and her hair looked mad already. He let out a deep sigh as he led her to the bathroom. She would need a bath, but at her age she still needed to be watched in case she went under the water.

He took of his cloak and his vest and hung them over the toilet lid. Rolling up the sleeves on his white button up, Severus reached over and turned on the taps. As the water began to fill the bath he opened the cupboard under the sink and grabbed a handful of vials. He poured one into the bath and put the other two on the floor next to him.

Instantly the bath filled with bubbles and just as he was about to tell Hermione to get in, he turned to see she had already stripped off and was standing there waiting for the bath to fill. Severus went red as he quickly turned away and checked the water. The bath was ready so he turned the taps off and told Hermione to get in, but the sides were too high and she struggled to get over them. Cursing every God he could think of, he grabbed Hermione and plonked her in the bath while trying not to look at her.

Once in the bath, the bubbles covered her body and Severus could go about washing her hair. Hermione sat quietly as she had water poured over her head and didn't move as the shampoo was put in or when it was rinsed out. Severus put conditioner in hoping that it would make her hair easier to brush when she got out.

After washing that out as well he allowed her to play in the water as he sat on the floor making sure she didn't drown. He threw a wash cloth at her and told her to clean her face and feet. When the water started to go cold, Severus was faced with a new problem; getting her out, drying her and clothing her.

Feeling even more uncomfortable than he did having her eat off of his plate, Severus stood and emptied the bath. His ears were bombarded with a high pitch scream as Hermione tried to climb out of the bath. Thinking she was hurt, Severus quickly picked her up and held her in the air as he asked her what was wrong. She pointed to the bath and as if on cue it made the sucking noise as the last of the water was emptied.

"Daddy says there's a monster in there that will eat me if I don't get out of the bath quick enough." Severus looked at her to see real tears running down her face.

"That must have just been at your house, because there are no monsters here." Severus then looked at her and furrowed his eyebrows, "And please don't scream unless you're hurt."

She nodded and let herself be put down and awkwardly dried by the dark man, he then wrapped the towel around her and let her follow him into another door. His bedroom wasn't grand, but it still was nice; he always liked the dark wooden furniture and warm rug. He walked over to his drawers and pulled out an old t-shirt; he quickly pulled it over the tiny Gryffindors head and turned another handkerchief into a pair of underwear.

He grabbed himself a pair of track pants and his old black shirt to take to the shower with him. Best to avoid any unwanted questions like "what's that?" Snape grabbed a book from his bookshelf and put Hermione on his bed with it and told her to stay put while he showered.

Once he had showered and changed, Severus came out to find Hermione in the middle of his bed absolutely enthralled with the book in front of her. He smirked as he grabbed it off of the bed; Hermione stated that she was reading that, but when Snape saw the title, _"Advanced Potion Theory: With Side Notes by Professor Jacob Dowling" _he actually let out a bark of laughter.

Hermione's nose scrunched up to show she was annoyed, but then Severus said it was time for bed and she just nodded. She was tucked under the covers on the far left; Severus hoped the bed was big enough and that she didn't kick in her sleep.

"I'll just be in the other room marking papers if you need me." Hermione nodded and followed by a loud yawn.

She shuffled deeper into the covers and Severus was sure that she was asleep before he left the room. The wooden door quietly clicked shut as he walked into his study. Suddenly turning on his heel Severus cast the strongest silencing charm and yelled. He cursed and threw things against walls and basically lost his cool. When the unknowing room was finally trashed to his liking and his throat ached from his outburst he collapsed into his ridged backed chair and let his head hit the desk. Never had he been so out of his element before and never had he thought that this would happen to him.

With much hesitation Severus Snape lifted his head and starting writing a letter to the apothecary in Diagon Alley, out lining the several rare ingredients he would need for the aging potion. All the while his mind thought off how long the potion would take to brew and that he would be looking after a child for that long. He pushed a little too hard on his quill causing a small spittle of ink to spray up the parchment, but he would be damned if he was going to start the letter again. His stress levels were on a steady rise when he heard a sound coming from the bedroom. Quickly signing the letter and putting it in an envelope he drew his wand and opened the door to his lounging area.

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**Be kind dead Fanfic-ers, I haven't written a fan based story in nearly a year.**

**Your comments will be cherished and put in a jar on my self as inspiration.**

**-Captain Zex**


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter three up and running.**

**Enjoy.**

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There, in the middle of the room stood a tall figure dressed in midnight blue robes; his long white hair shone in the dimly lit room. Upon realising that the figure now standing on his rug was Albus, Severus lowered his wand and cleared his throat. The Headmaster turned to face him with knowing eyes and smiled weakly.

"Do you feel better now?" The old man asked as he took the unoffered seat next to him.

"What do you mean Albus? I have no time for your riddles." Severus snapped and remained standing in the doorway.

"Your little tantrum," Dumbledore raised his eyebrows, "I sent an elf with a letter, but he quickly returned saying that you were having some kind of fit."

Severus thought back to his outburst and realised that, had an elf appeared, he would not have seen or heard them over his own rage. He hung his head in shame; the reason he silenced the door was so that no one would hear him break down.

"And what did this letter say?" Snape tried desperately to not take the bait.

"Tomorrow is Friday and I know that you only have two classes in the morning." That stupid twinkle in the Headmasters eyes made him want to gag. "I thought it might be an idea to take Miss Granger, Mister Potter and Mister Weasley down to Hogsmead and do a bit of shopping. The girl will need some clothes after all."

Just as Snape was about to fire back saying that he would rather the Dark Lord had his way with him than take Potter and Weasley shopping he was cut short by a raised hand.

"Oh and Severus," Albus' voice dropped dangerously, "If you let anything happen to anyone of those three, I will personally deal with you."

Swallowing thickly, the Head of Slytherin knew better than to argue with the one person Voldermort was scared of and instead bit his tongue. Just as quickly as the dark turn had happened, it faded and Albus smiled again as if nothing was said.

"Won't Potter and Weasley have class?" Severus tried the tactful way of saying no.

"I have allowed them the day off," Dumbledore stroked his beard, "School can be stressful for someone with the weight of the world on their shoulders."

Snape harrumphed and folded his arms; had it been anyone else he might have tolerated them, but the-boy-who-lived-to-be-a-pain-in-his-side was just that. A pain. Severus knew that he hadn't done anything to personally annoy Snape; it was more the fact that he existed. He seemed so self-righteous that the dark man just wanted to slap him. As for Weasley, he was just too dumb for Severus to ever like him.

"Have you started the aging potion yet?" The silence was broken.

"I have to wait for some things," Snape signed and finally sat down in his chair, "The crushed tortoise shell should be easy enough; it's the powdered Graphorn horn and Lethifold skin that will be difficult to obtain."

The silence resumed and as the two gentlemen sat there staring at the fire, an unknown tension began to rise. At first Severus thought he was just angered by the whole situation, but then he realised it was more focused then that and turned to see the Headmaster looking uncomfortable.

"Oh spit it out old man!" Severus snapped.

Instead of getting mad, Albus took a deep breath and readied himself for what he was sure would be one hell of an argument. He had sat in his office thinking about the day's events and knew that they could have been handled differently. He looked at his aging hands a thought back to a time when life was easier; less complicated.

"Now Severus my boy, you know that I trust you with my life." The statement rang in the air and Snape nodded for him to continue.

"Although, my leaving Miss Granger in your care was to serve as my own entertainment and she could have very easily gone with another."

"Obviously." Severus sneered.

"I do believe it may have been hasty." Albus, for once, looked like he was in the deep end and forgot how to swim. "Miss Granger is a very pretty young girl and she seems to do everything you ask, but I must ask you something."

"Old man, if you don't start being straight with me you can get out," Severus rose from his chair and pointed to the door, "I do have things I would rather be doing."

Dumbledore nodded and also stood, he stepped over to his friend and placed a hand on his shoulder. The gesture was meant to calm, but it only served to set the other mans nerves on edge.

"I am aware that Tom has asked you to do some less than kind things, thing that would cripple any other man." At this he turned and walked a few paces away, "I must ask if these things have had any effect on you?"

"Do you mean the nightly horrors that flash behind my eyes?" Severus barked, "Or perhaps you're referring to the fact that the shelf lining my pensive is filled with memories I'd rather not have?"

As the tension grew thick like pudding, the older man cast a silencing charm over the room and a repelling charm so no one would come running should they hear the yelling. The next thing he said was going to cause problems; most especially if his worrying was for naught.

"Severus, I need to make sure that Miss Granger remains safe and that includes when she is here." The Headmaster turned to face the raging man before him, "I need to know that the things you have had to do in the past will not be repeated behind these doors."

Severus Snape felt his blood boil at the implication of the question that lay before him and somewhere in the back of his mind he heard a tiny snapping sound.

"You mean to tell me that you placed a child under my care, let me feed her, bathe her and then think to yourself: _'What if he's a rapist?'_?" Throwing his hands in the air, Severus focused on not destroying anymore furniture. "What do you expect to find if you open that door? A small child battered and bruised, chained to my bed and kept as a sex slave?"

He knew his face had gone red, but the fact that Albus was yet to confirm or deny anything caused him to become further enraged. Yes, he had done things he regretted, but they were done as orders from one of the most terrifying wizards in the world. If he had a choice he would never choose to do those things again.

"She is a child Albus, and not matter what you think of me I would never do that." Severus paced back and forth, "You think I would rape a child? You think that I am that far gone or that it would not sicken me to even think about it?"

"My boy, it's not that I think you would do those things, it's that she is a very willing young girl who seems to be very comfortable in your presence. Should the question be worded right, she might agree to anything and I think she needs protecting from that."

"I suggest you leave old man and know that you are no longer welcome here." Severus' voice was deep and foreboding.

Albus turned and went to open the door to leave but was stopped.

"Don't you think that if I really wanted to do those things that I would have done them by now?" Snape spat as he stepped up to the aging man, "Your precious Gryffindor lioness and you leave her in the hands of a man so capable of anything."

There was a pause in which the dark mans expressions faltered and his voice then became just above a whisper.

"I'm not my father, Albus." He sighed deeply and looked the old man in the eyes; his heart momentarily being worn on his sleeve, "I'm better than that."

Without another word Dumbledore practically ran out of the room, he could tell that he had been wrong to question Snape's nature. That and he didn't want any of those homemade spells being cast in his direction.

The man in question was so angry that he barged into his bedroom, ready to tear shreds into the person who this whole thing revolved around. But upon entering the room, all his rage seemed to be sucked out of his body when he saw the tiny child asleep on his bed with the potions book hugged to her chest. To think the crazy old man thought that he would even think about her in that way made him sick. She was pretty for a child and he was sure that if she battered her long lashes at people, they would give her the world.

Now that he had been asked such a thing, it was all he could think about and he was faced with the problem of sleeping in his own bed. Hermione was suddenly jerked from her sleep by a blood curdling scream. Only after she awoke did she realise the screaming was her own and she started to cry into the pillow beneath her head.

Severus had been so shocked by the sudden sound that his feet became rooted to the floor as he silently watch the Gryffindor sob her heart out. He was sure she had suffered a nightmare, but he had no idea how to deal with such a thing. The only memory he had of his parents when he too had a nightmare was his father's drunken yelling and his mother telling him to stay quiet.

"Sev'rus?"

The man in question was pulled from his mind by a soft, broken voice calling to him and in that moment he believed that he would not be like his parents. Whether she was his child or not, he would still treat her as if she was; even if to only prove people wrong. He carefully walked over to the large bed and sat on his normal side. Feeling a bit out of place he didn't know what to do from that point, but it seemed that Hermione did as she climbed over and sat cross-legged on his legs.

She was still crying, but no longer sobbing as she wiped away the tears that continued to fall. When he didn't say anything, the small child seemed to think that she had done something wrong and that's why he wasn't speaking to her.

"I'm sorry for screaming," she lowered her head, "I know you don't like it."

Her apology was unwarranted, but did he tell her that, or did he make sure she knew for future reference. He was very new at this and didn't know where to start.

"Would you like to tell me about the nightmare?" He asked with as much kindness as he could muster.

Unfortunately, she shook her head and continued to cry. She didn't look away from him and her focused gaze seemed to say more than her words ever could. Whatever she had seen, it had scared her to the bone and it was now that he noticed she was shaking. Not really knowing what he was doing, Severus reached out and pulled the small girl to his chest and wrapped his arms around her.

"It wasn't real, the mind is capable of producing images that may look very real, but when you think about it, they can't be." His deep voice no longer held the same tone it would in a classroom or even one similar to when he spoke with staff members.

"Sev'rus," Her voice was small and still shook a bit as she spoke, "Could you tell me a story?"

Floundering for a moment, Severus confessed, "I don't know any stories."

"Really?" She lifted her head and looked him dead in the eyes, "Want me to tell you one?"

"Okay."

He picked her up and put her next to him so he could retreat under the covers and she did the same, resting her head on his shoulder, Hermione began the tale of Rapunzel. She had only gotten about half way through the story when her words became mumbled before they stopped completely and were replaced with light snores. Instead of stirring the child, Severus decided he deserved an early night and closed his eyes and waited for sleep to take him.

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**I am loving the reviews, please keep it up and I'll keep the chapters coming ^.^**


	4. Chapter 4

**Hey guys. The last chapter got some very passionate reviews and I would like to thank everyone who did take the time to comment. To let everyone know, each time I post I have the next few chapters already written, so try not to jump to conclusions.**

**Dumbledore got some pretty nasty comments, but he is being portrayed how I see him. He isn't a nice person, he is a Slytherin under all those twinkles.**

**This chapter is longer to make up for the last one.**

**Enjoy.**

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It seemed like he had just closed his eyes when an alarm went off to signify the start of a new day; he rolled over and groaned. Suddenly he realised that something wasn't right and upon looking around he noticed the little ball of Gryffindor fur was missing. He sat up in his bed and had a look around to find the bathroom door shut and the sound of running water. Panicking, he raced over and threw the door open before quickly averting his eyes skyward when he noticed she wasn't wearing any clothes.

"What are you doing?" Severus asked the roof.

Hermione had dragged the stool in the corner of the room over the sink and was washing the shirt and underwear she had worn the previous night. He could hear that she was crying and slowly lowered his gaze and made sure she wasn't showing anything he shouldn't see. Luckily, the way she was sitting made sure that nothing was visible.

"I tried to get to the toilet, but I was too late." She started to cry harder, "I'm sorry Sev'rus, I didn't mean to."

Her cries and apologies suggested that she would have gotten into severe trouble for doing the same thing around her parents. Severus felt that maybe the Granger household wasn't a paradise after all, but he chose to keep his mouth shut.

Feeling the same embarrassment once himself, Severus kept calm and asked, "Do you think you need a diaper next time or should you be ok?"

"I'll be ok." Hermione sounded almost annoyed at the question.

"I'll take care of those, but I think you should have a quick bath." Hermione nodded in agreement and hopped off of the stool as Snape ran another bath. This time he was able to put her in without feeling like a perverted monster and he handed her the wash cloth.

He noticed her hair seemed less wild and decided to wash it again with the same potions and again she sat the quietly as he did so. Once the bath was over he picked her up and wrapped her in a towel then placed her back on the stool. He grabbed the clothes that were bundled in the sink and threw them in the hamper. Grabbing an empty vial he transfigured it into a toothbrush and handed it to Hermione. Snape opened the medicine cabinet and grabbed his own toothbrush and the tube of toothpaste.

The small child held out her toothbrush and waited for Severus to put some paste on it, she then brushed her teeth and waited to get dressed. They left the bathroom and went to Snape's bedroom in search of clothing. He grabbed a shirt, pants and cloak of his own before shrinking them to fit the much smaller person. Yet another hankie was transformed into undies and she managed to get dressed on her own. Severus had ducked into the bathroom to dress himself and when he returned he actually burst out laughing. Before him stood a miniature, female Severus Snape and even though the buttons were in the wrong holes, Hermione looked very proud of herself.

"Now I look like you!" She beamed at the man before him and Severus let his smile linger a second longer.

"Come here and let me fix your buttons." Hermione let his adjust the buttons on her shirt as well as do up the ones on the cloak.

Severus then grabbed two pairs of his boots and shrunk one pair so to complete the tiny version of himself. As she spun around in her new shoes, Hermione sung a disjointed song about how they were twins now. Summoning his hair brush, Snape was surprised when Hermione walked over to him and let him brush her hair. He transformed a bit of string into a hair tie and put her hair into the best pony tail he could. Opening his top drawers he pulled out two scarves and handed the already smaller one the Hermione.

They both looked at each other and laughed; maybe this whole babysitting thing wouldn't be so bad after all. Grabbing his letter from his desk in one hand and Hermione in the other, Severus set out for breakfast. While on his journey to the Great Hall, Hermione had somehow managed to climb onto his shoulders and was laughing like a mad person. She was holding onto his head as he marched through the corridors, but protested when he tried to put her down. She eventually gave up and let herself be put on the floor just before the doors to the Great Hall.

Severus then continued his march with the little Professor Snape in tow; marching just as he did. When he entered the Hall he could hear some of the chatter stop and several girls exclaim how cute Hermione looked. Ginny Weasley burst out laughing, but also commented that she had the march down perfectly. The pair walked up to the Head Table and sat down as they usually did and waited for breakfast to appear. Hermione had insisted on a napkin to be tucked into her shirt so she didn't ruin Severus' clothes and they ate silently before they had to leave for class.

As the daily post arrived, Severus signed to one of the owls to come over to him and he attached his letter to the apothricary to its leg. Hermione, with all her Gryffindor courage was afraid of the large barn owl that was now picking at her breakfast. It squawked at her before it took off to the sky; she poked her tongue at the retreating owl and mentioned something about in having bird breath.

His first class with the sixth year Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs and although the lesson was to be a practical one, after yesterday's performance, they were going to get a mouthful. He let Hermione climb onto his desk and start drawing with the pencils she had left behind. Severus wrote the instructions on the board for a simple bruise paste before standing at the front of the class to wait for his students. They slowly trickled in after they were done with breakfast and for once in their schooling history, Potter and Weasley sat at the front of the class.

Hermione waved at them as they walked in and asked if she could sit with them, but much to her dismay she was told no. Severus explained why and she seemed to understand well enough to not get grumpy. Once everyone was inside Severus raised his wand and shut the door with a loud bang causing the students to jump.

"After yesterday's incident," He glared at Longbottom who shrunk into himself, "You will be reverted back to third year potions until you can prove at such a time when you may be allowed to return to your normal routine."

The class was clearly annoyed as they knew that it might cost them a passing grade if they couldn't get back on track. He paced back and forth and was aware on the many pairs of eyes that were not on him, but the child behind him.

"The instructions are on the board," He shouted, grabbing everyone's attention, "You have an hour."

At that point the entire class rose from their seats and went to get the things they would need to finish the potion. Severus observed as Potter and Weasley pushed forward and were the first ones back and to get started on their bruise paste. With one eyebrow quirked, Snape chose to keep a close eye on them in case they were up to something.

When everyone was at least starting their potions, Severus went back behind his desk and began grading the papers he hadn't yesterday. Ten minutes into the lesson Severus heard a tiny voice trying to get his attention, when he looked up he saw Hermione smiling and holding up her drawing.

"It's you and me." She pointed to the two stick figures holding hands, "Do you like it?"

"That's a very nice drawing Hermione," He whispered back, "Would you like to put it on the wall?"

Her golden eyes widened as she nodded and used him to climb down and onto the floor. Severus pointed to the wall on the right which had nothing on it and told Hermione to raise it above her head once she was there. By now the whole class was watching and Hermione held the picture as high as she could. Severus pulled out his wand and cast a small sticking charm towards the drawing; it flew out of Hermione's hands and stuck itself to the wall. The girl giggled and ran back to the table to draw another picture.

The action of sticking drawing after drawing to the wall was repeated several more times before the class was finished. Soon the wall was covered in brightly drawn pictures ranging from stick people to a dragon she tried to copy out of a book. None of the students said anything unless Hermione specifically asked them if they liked a drawing to which they all replied yes. During the class Hermione's stops for drawing moved closer and closer to Harry and Ron and when Severus next looked up he could see her hovering over their potion. Just as he was about to yell at her to get down off the table he heard what she was saying.

"NO!" She slapped Ron's hand away from the cauldron and looked thoroughly annoyed, "You have to crush it first. The book says so!"

Severus snuck up to the table and cleared his throat, startling the trio; he raised an eyebrow with the implied question, "What's going on here?"

"Sev'rus, the book said to crush it, but Ron was gonna put it in without crushing it." She pointed her finger at her friend as if she was dobbing him in.

At first Severus didn't know what she was talking about until he remembered the book she had been looking at. He thought she was just looking at the pictures; he had no idea she could read already.

"Although the book said to crush the bezoars, the instructions on the board say to put it in whole." Severus drawled.

"Then the board is wrong." She stamped her little foot and crossed her arms.

"The board isn't wrong, it's just different." Snape could feel his temper rising and there was a short pause where everyone was just looking at him.

"Does it change anything?" Hermione suddenly asked and Severus calmed down a bit.

He nodded, "By crushing bezoars in any potion it can make the potion more potent."

He used the moment where Hermione was thinking to pick her up off of the table and walk back to his desk. He plonked her none to gently on the edge before spinning around and setting his best glare on the two boys.

"Twenty points from Gryffindor for allowing a child near a lit cauldron," Snape snapped, "And a further five for not listening to her."

He sneered at the boys until they went back to work and turned around so he could continue to answer Hermione.

"The book you were reading was a theory book," Snape explained, "It's like a book of ideas. Some of them work and some don't, but it's better to test those things in a safe environment."

The Gryffindor nodded slowly as she tried to make sense of what she was being told, "But you said that I was right about the crushing?"

"Yes, that's because it was tested and found to be correct." Then Severus gave her a stern look, "With all that said, did I not tell you that you weren't allowed to sit with Potter and Weasley?"

Hermione looked at her feet and mumbled a yes. The Potions Master leaned back in his chair and folded his arms; Miss Granger followed suit.

"I had a surprise planned today." Severus raised his eyebrow, "But it seems that you would rather not listen to me than go out."

Quickly unfolding her arms, Hermione apologised and promised to listen and remain quiet; she even went as far as to hold out her pinkie finger and give the childish version of an Unbreakable Vow. Signing for the umpteenth time, Snape took her pinkie in his and said that if she broke the promise that they would spend the rest of the day in the dungeons grading papers.

To his pleasant surprise, the tiny girl chose to keep her promise despite the fact that there was no magic binding her to do so. She continued to draw belly down on his desk and although she was in the way, she was quiet. Suddenly the bell rang and yet another class was over, the students began their packing away as they brought up samples of their days brewing.

When the room was clear of students, Severus slumped back into his chair; he was not used to taking care of a three year old on top of every other dunderheads in this school. His next class was first years and they would need all of his attention and he couldn't give all of his attention to them and Hermione. He stood up from his desk and redid the charm work on it he had done the previous day as it had already faded.

Once more there was a jungle under his desk that would to not only protect the know-it-all from idiot first years, but also serve as a distraction. As long as she was preoccupied, Snape could concentrate on teaching. He showed Hermione the jungle and she politely thanked him before gathering her things and crawling under the desk.

By the end of the lesson Severus Snape had deducted one hundred and twenty five house points, made three students cry and sent another for immediate detention with Filch. He had yelled until his throat was hoarse and slammed his fist so hard into the table that his had broken two fingers. After muttering the spell the repair his hand he sat behind his desk glaring at his students; just daring them to make another mistake. But as the bell rang, the class couldn't empty any faster and he was quickly left in an eerie silence.

Massaging his temples, he let his head fall back against the chair as he tried to clear his mind of all the things that could have gone wrong. Had Hermione not been under his desk, she could have very well been hurt if another idiot was to make an error. Deciding he would take the appropriate measures to avoid that in the future he sat up and poked his head under the desk.

His senses were immediately assaulted by the sounds and smells of a jungle floor and lying on that floor was a sleeping Hermione Granger. Being unaware of when she had awoken that morning, he was unsure of how much sleep she'd had and if it was enough. He chose to let her rest for a while until the two dunderheads he would be babysitting this afternoon arrived.

Sitting back up Severus slumped against his desk and took deep breaths to calm his nerves. Did that idiot of a Headmaster not realise that he didn't know the first thing about raising children? The thought of Dumbledore instantly made his blood boil; that man knew the things he had suffered and the people he had lost and still he was oblivious. Albus Dumbledore didn't know Severus Snape; he only knew how he could benefit from having him around.

Hermione had been easy to look after so far, but he knew that there were things he would need so that she could have something similar to her first childhood. She couldn't sleep in his bed the entirety of her stay and she would need things to preoccupy her during class hours. Drawing pictures on scraps of parchment would only last so long.

He had thought that maybe he could get another teacher to look after her when he was busy, but as soon as it popped into his head, the thought was crushed. No other professor would protect her like he would or talk to her like an adult. He couldn't stand the way a person's voice would suddenly change when talking to a child. Although he had to dumb down what he said so to avoid even more questioning, he didn't speak like a child to her. A shiver ran down his spine at the thought of Minerva looking after her; dressing her in tartan and stupid hats.

The house elves that worked at Hogwarts were an option, but they tended to be a bit careless when it came to children. They would feed her and look after her, but in all honesty, he didn't trust them with a human life. He had heard what the Malfoy's old elf did to 'protect' the Potter boy and it worried him as to what they would do if a situation arose.

No sooner had the thought left his mind he heard a knocking at his door; sighing heavily he quietly stalked over and opened it to reveal the other two thirds of the Golden Trio. They both looked uncomfortable in front of their professor and with as much hospitality he could scrounge up, he stepped aside and let them in. Walking to the front of the room, Severus held out his hand and offered each boy a seat before leaning against his desk.

"Where's Hermione, Sir?" Harry asked quietly.

Out of every person in the school he had to converse with, it had to be him. Those eyes didn't belong on that face; they were too kind to be amongst such harsh features; with so many bad memories.

"She is asleep at the moment." Severus did indicate anything else.

"May we see her?" The red haired boy looked down right scared and so to avoid any further conversation, Severus nodded and pointed to the other side of his current seat.

The two boys moved to look around the desk before they saw Hermione curled up on a mossy floor with a flowerbed as a pillow. Ron went to move closer, but sent himself tumbling backwards when his head came in contact with the bubbled silencing charm. Harry looked at his friend confused, but quickly understood when he too got closer to their underage comrade. He was amazed at the level of magic that would have gone into making such a place; all for a little girl to play in.

"It's amazing Sir," Harry stood and brushed his knees off, "I never knew magic could do that."

"Mum made us a castle once, not a big one." Ron stood to join Harry, "But it wasn't as detailed as that."

Severus felt the boost to his ego and he stood a little higher, so far Hermione hadn't missed a meal, she had been bathed and even had a place to play. For someone who had never raised a child, he felt like his was on the right track. Just then, he noticed the tiny figure crawling from her sanctuary, yawning and rubbing her eyes.

"Did you sleep well?" The question caused the boys to turn around, both with looks of shock directed at their Professor.

Hermione nodded, "A monkey woke me up." She said groggily.

Miss Granger had been fast asleep when the faked call of a howler monkey erupted from her jungle under the desk and nearly caused her to scream. Instead of saying hello to the two boys that were giving her small smiles, Hermione walked up to Snape and held out her arms. He bent down and picked her up and fixed her scarf before marching out of the potions room; expecting the Gryffindors to follow.

Just as he was about the leave he told the boys to wait where they were and he ducked into his private rooms. He reached up onto the top on his bookshelf until his fingers wrapped around two little vials. Checking their labels, he put one back and grabbed another until he had what he needed. As he returned he handed the potions to the younger boys and told them to drink and without hesitation, they did.

As soon as the vials were empty the boys features began to change and Hermione looked away from them. Harry grew a few inches, his hair grew a bit and lightened and his face thinned and became more pointed. Ron didn't grow, but he became very skinny and his red hair was replaced with short brown curls. When the polyjuice potion was finished, both boys looked completely different and allowed Severus to modify their school cloaks to look more like casual robes.

He placed Hermione down and told her they were playing a game where they got to look like someone else. She nodded and Severus used a spell to darken her hair and straightened it out so that if someone looked at her, she would look like a relative of his. Giggling to herself, Hermione was picked up and they were on their way to Hogsmead.

They passed the Headmaster on their way out and although the two boys waved, Severus glared at him to let him know that anything he had to say would be unwelcomed. Nothing was said and so they continued down the snow covered walk. Once at the gates, Severus did some foolish wand waving and with a loud clinking sound, the gates opened. The group travelled in silence the whole time, except Hermione who had asked where they were going about a hundred times; something that was grating on Snape's nerves.

When she asked the same question Severus came to a complete stop and placed Hermione on the ground; she sunk a bit in the snow. Instead of saying anything, Snape turned around and started walking back towards the castle. He could hear Hermione trying to catch up, but the snow came up to her knees and she kept falling over.

"Sev'rus!" She cried as she stumbled over her feet, "Sev'rus wait!"

He slowed down, but didn't stop. The boys were also shouting at him and Hermione started screaming at them to let her go; at that moment he turned around. Hermione jumped out of Ron's arms and ran to Severus with tears running down her cheeks. She was covered in snow and was shaking from the cold that had set in.

"I'm sorry Sev'rus," She wiped away her tears, "I was just excited."

Her golden orbs penetrated his black ones and he found it harder to stay mad. Bending down he picked her up and started to brush the snow off of her cloak. Reaching into his pocket he handed her a hankie as he cast a warming charm over her.

"Do we have to go back?" She asked quietly.

Severus stared at her for a while before shaking his head, "But," He raised an eyebrow, "I will not tolerate being asking the same question over and over again nor will I stand for ignorance."

Hermione nodded and did something that caused the boys, who had been walking up to them, to stop in their tracks. She wrapped her arms around his neck and hugged Severus Snape. Not knowing what to do, he gave her a quick squeeze in return then started walking back to Hogsmead.

For the rest of the walk, Hermione didn't say a word and although they wanted to yell at their Professor, neither did Harry or Ron. Severus felt a bit guilty for not handling the situation better, but he hoped now that he had reacted so badly, they might avoid similar situations later on. When Hogsmead came into view the little girl in his arms let out a shocked gasp.

It wasn't the fanciest place in the world, but from a child's eyes that had probably been brought up in the suburbs, it was breathtaking. The buildings all looked at least over a hundred years old, and some of them were. There weren't many people around, the cold kept a lot of them inside the pubs and small shops. The snow in the surrounding area had been magically cleared away and Severus put Hermione down so she could walk. The tiny Gryffindor bounded towards Zonko's, which happened to be the store with the shiniest things.

Severus coughed and she stopped mid skip to turn around and wait to be told where they would be going first. Instead of heading towards the joke shop, Snape walked over to Madam Maulkins in hopes of getting some clothes for the new addition to his rooms. Hermione's shoulders slumped, but she didn't dare run the risk of heading back to the castle empty handed.

The clothing shop was well presented and tidy, but unlike any female that would have walked in, Severus went straight up to the counter and demanded service. He rang the bell on the counter and a young girl who looked like she couldn't care less walked over for out back. Her hair was tied up in a pony tail and her skirt was much too short while her top was much too low. The dark man looked in disgust while the two that accompanied him seemed to be drooling on their shoes.

"I require clothing for her." Severus pointed to Hermione and she waved shyly. "I also require that she doesn't look like that." He then pointed to girl.

The girl in question scoffed and turned to walk towards the children's section. "You can find what you require here."

She then stalked off the lean against the counter and file her bubblegum pink finger nails. Shaking his head, Severus then turned to face the most difficult task of his life. Shopping. Deciding that panicking would serve no purpose; the Potions Master thought logically about the situation and told Harry to grab a basket. The boy returned with the basket in hand and they began shopping for the smallest Gryffindor.

First, underwear; Severus was tired of turning his handkerchiefs into the under garments for a child. He grabbed and handful of them that looked like they would fit Hermione and threw them in the basket. Secondly, socks; letting Hermione pick out about ten pairs, they too went into the basket along with the underwear. Next on the list were pants. Hermione grabbed a pair of jeans that had butterflies on the bum pockets and threw them in the basket like she had seen Snape do. Several pairs of jeans, pants and skirts later they moved onto shirts.

They had been moving pretty fast until they were greeted by the onslaught of colours and patterns that made the little girl smile and race off. She would grab a few things before she ran back and would dump them into the basket that Harry held. Severus hadn't seen her doing this, but was instead looking shocked while he tried to remain calm as he picked out a few tops. All the love hearts and ponies were becoming a little too much for him and was picking out plain shirts instead.

The excited three year old tried on a few coats and was allowed three, one black, one blue and one red; each had a hood and pockets. Once they were done with clothes, it was onto shoes and they walked to the back wall to be confronted with even more choice. Severus decided she would need at least four pairs, one for around the school, boots for the snow, a pair of general shoes and a pair of slippers.

Hermione measured her foot on the chart that was printed onto a mat on the floor. They then started to look for the necessary shoes. Severus sat down on one of the chairs provided and rubbed his face. Even shopping for clothes was proving to be a headache; it wasn't that it was hard, but more the fact that he had to do it in the first place. Harry and Ron seemed to be happy to help their friend try on different shoes until she found some that she liked. She loved the pair of dragon hide boots she had on and asked if she could wear them for the rest of the day. Severus just nodded tiredly.

The slippers she picked out were lime green and fluffy, they had a pair of eyes on each slipper that would blink and roll around as you walked. Hermione's laughter rang through the shop and brought a smile to the boys' faces, even Severus smirked a bit.

Finally they had everything that Severus and the boys could think of and so they walked up to the counter to pay. Once there Harry dumped the overflowing basket over the countertop and waited for the girl to look up, but she didn't. Growing impatient, Severus picked Hermione up and placed her on the counter where she started jumping up and down shouting "Wake up!" at the girl.

The store hand looked up and told Hermione to get down, but she shouted that she wouldn't and there was nothing she could do about it. At that moment the girl grabbed Hermione and roughly put her on the ground. In a flash a black the girl had a wand at her throat and a ready to explode Potions Master glaring at her.

"If you ever touch a hair on that girls head again I will make it my personal duty to see that your body is never found." Snape whispered, but it had more affect than if he had shouted.

The girl nodded furiously and quickly put through the abundance of clothing articles with thirty percent off and a gift voucher on the side. Harry and Ron, although shocked, were glad it wasn't them on the receiving end of Snape anger and kept quiet during the whole thing. Hermione stuck her tongue out at the lady and skipped out of the shop with the other three in tow. Severus had shrunk the shopping bags and put them in his pocket, before exiting the store.

They headed towards the Three Broomsticks to get some lunch as Severus was stunned to realise they had spent an hour shopping for clothes. The pub was quiet and only two other wizards sat at the bar. Sitting at one for the tables, Severus ordered a serving of chips and two sodas; he let the boys order their own food. When everyone was eating their hot food, Harry asked a question that had been bugging him for a while.

"Sir," His voice was unsure, "Why is it that no one is talking about Hermione's disappearance?"

Knowing that it would be smarter to tell them what they needed to hear, he sighed and answered.

"Each student signs a contract upon entering Hogwarts, within that contract there it a 'Tongue Twisting Clause'." He wished Albus wasn't so vague with this boy; it would have helped him to understand better. "The clause can be brought into play when an incident arises that needs to be contained."

"So, does that mean we're not allowed to talk about it?" Ron asked around a mouthful of burger.

"No, Weasley, it means that anyone who tries to speak about it will find that they can't." Severus shook his head, "It's called a 'Tongue Twisting Clause' for a reason. Anyone who tried to speak about it will find themselves hit with a small tongue tying hex that will wear off when they stop trying to talk about it."

"So why is it that we can talk about it now?" Harry asked, confused.

"The contract is only valid inside the grounds of Hogwarts." At least Potter was asking real questions.

"Will the same thing happen if we were to write about it?" His green eyes flashed with a hint of worry.

"Anyone who tries to write about the incident will merely write nonsense." Snape found that the boys were severely uninformed on the whole thing and wondered if Dumbledore told them anything. "The students names would have been written down and the corresponding contracts would have been brought out and had an activating charm placed on them."

"So why can me and Harry talk to each other about it?" Ron wiped sauce from the corner of his mouth, "I mean, we even let Ginny know what happened."

"The Headmaster seems to give his favourite students special treatment." Snape's voice dripped with acid as he spoke; he knew all too well how Albus could turn a blind eye.

The group sat in silence as they thought about the coming months and what it would mean for each of them. Ron had started recognising his feelings for Hermione and was going to tell her the day she was reverted back to her three year old self. After seeing her as a child, with all the cute things she did and just how trusting she was, it reminded him of his childhood. He would never question Snape's loyalties again after seeing how he took care of the little rascal and how quickly he pounced on that shop assistant for just picking Hermione up.

But Ron was forced to realise something about the one he loved; she was not this person when she grows up. Although some of her traits got through, she was a completely different woman in his time and it made him sad. Even as he watched Hermione playing with her chips pretending they were little people talking, he knew that she would never return his feelings.

The way he acted now was too similar to how she acted as a child and she would see that as immature. He didn't like the things she liked just as she didn't liked the things he enjoyed; he thought about how he couldn't fall for a more opposite person. Maybe he didn't love Hermione Granger; maybe he just idolised and respected her.

Harry couldn't, or more didn't want to imagine the next six months without Hermione's logical thinking. She was always the voice of reason in their group; when him and Ron wanted to barge in, wands waving; she would stop them. He could see that she was even bossy as a child and he was glad she wasn't that bad as a young adult. Though, try as he might, Harry couldn't help noticing something about his childish friend. The way she eyes shone when she smiled seemed off. Her laughter seemed strained; and the way she followed Snape like she was tied to him was unnerving.

Maybe he was imagining these things, but he was so sure that there was something she wanted to say and didn't know how. At that moment, Hermione looked at Harry, golden brown met forest green and he knew what he was seeing.

Hermione Granger was scared.

Not just scared, she was petrified. But she was smart enough to know not to say anything, or at least that's what she thought. As Harry tried to look deeper, Hermione smiled to try and throw him, but the shine was still off and it only made him curious. What was she so scared off?

Severus Snape may have seemed cool and collected on the surface, but under his many layers of black and masks of indifference he was having an internal battle. The two boys before him were different to what he was led to believe and it confused him. Although the son of James Potter looked as if he could have been his twin, he seemed smarter and more compassionate. Weasley was the last boy of many, yet didn't get to hold the 'Youngest Sibling' title. His facade didn't fool the double agent. He could see that the boy had nothing to his name except his name itself.

Not a Quidditch player, not a girl, not a twin, not a part of the Ministry and he doesn't take care of dragons. The only thing that Ron Weasley had going for him was that he was friends with Harry Potter. Snape felt bad for a child who was forced to live in the shadows of their brothers and sisters, but Ron lived in everyone's shadow. Unfortunately, he had bigger fish to worry about and they were making a mess at the table. Hermione's hair glowed in the barely lit pub and he watched her play with her food.

She didn't even know it yet, but she would be a force to be reckoned with as she grew older. The Potions Master knew he would need to pick up a few books on taking care of children and few more supplies such as a bed. His musing was cut short by a light tugging on his jacket.

"I gotta go to the toilet." Hermione wriggled in her seat.

"Ron, take Hermione to the toilet." Harry's eyes never left the girl before him.

"Why do I have to take her?" Ron whined as he pushed his chair away from the table; his fake curls bouncing around his head.

"Just do it." Harry's voice became harsh.

"Sheesh, calm down mate." Ron grabbed Hermione's hand and walked her to the bathroom.

Once they were out of ear shot, Harry began to speak quietly and quickly.

"I need know what you've done to Hermione Sir," Harry looked at his Professor and before Snape could retort Harry continued, "I wouldn't accuse you of anything if I didn't have cause for concern."

"What are you talking about Potter, she's fine." Severus was getting flash backs to Dumbledore, "I haven't laid a hand on her."

"Can't you see it Sir?" The boy who lived leaned forward, "Look in her eyes. I've known Hermione for years now and I know when something's not right. She's scared and I need to know why."

"You listen here Potter, I would never touch a child; no matter what you and your little school friends think of me." Just as he was about to stand, Severus felt a hand on his arm. "Move it Potter, or learn to live without it."

"Please Sir, I didn't mean that. I was wondering if she had seen something she shouldn't of or something." Harry's eyes pleaded with him to listen, "Just look at her."

As the words left his mouth, the bathroom door opened and the pair of troublemakers returned to the table. The group sat in an uncomfortable silence while they finished their meals. Despite everything thing he felt against the boy, Severus listened to Harry's advice and looked into the eyes of the little girl next to him. Hermione looked up at him and smiled and if it wasn't for his extensive training as a spy, Snape's shock would have been obvious.

Just as Harry described, her smile was forced and there was a darkness hiding behind her eyes. Maybe it was time to start asking this girl some questions about her life and why she was more than happy to accept that Severus was playing dad.

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**Many questions have now been raised and the story is starting to take shape. The next chapter will hold the rest of the shopping trip and hopefully a stop in at Zonko's.**

**Keep reviewing and I'll keep writing ^.^**

**-Captain Zex**


	5. Chapter 5

**I apologise for the wait. My Dad is in hospital, but he said that he would hate it if I ever stopped writing, so here we are.**

**Chapter 5 is here for your enjoyment and I hope it brings just that.**

**Remember to review.**

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Lunch was eaten with light conversation, mostly between the two male Gryffindors. Snape had explained the contract a bit better, going into detail about the particular clause that had been activated. Harry had asked why no one seemed to make the connection between the missing Hermione and the new one that just popped up.

"I mean, everyone would have heard you calling her Hermione, right?"

"There are many sub-charms on the clause Potter, whenever someone says her name, anyone who would have heard it will think they didn't hear them properly, but won't feel compelled to ask again."

"So she's pretty safe then?" Harry ran a hand through his hair, "No one's going to make the connection and try and hurt her as a child?"

Severus could see that the boy blamed himself for his friend's safety; he secretly wished he had a friend like that during his time at school, instead he had Malfoy. The people he called friends in school were monsters and would do anything to kill the girl next to him.

"I can't make any promises, but I'm sure the old codger wouldn't let her be put in immediate danger." Even though the Headmaster had questioned Severus's feelings towards the girl.

All the while Hermione asked Severus questions about why he could do magic and where they were and what they were doing. Although Severus answered as many of her questions as he could, the fact that there seemed to be no light at the end of this particular tunnel he was forced to shout. Suddenly the quiet pub was filled with an angry voice.

"Merlin child!" Severus stood, "Do you ever stop? How can you find so many things to talk about? If you spent just two seconds thinking for yourself you would find the answers on your own!"

Hermione had backed away as Severus shouted and had curled herself into a ball; rocking herself back and forth. Ron turned red and shouted at Snape to shut his mouth, but immediately regretted his decision when the Potions Master directed his anger towards the naturally red headed boy. Harry ignored the now arguing people behind him and cautiously edged up to the girl who was cowering in the corner.

Her hair created a curtain to hide her face, her knees were drawn up to her chest and her arms were wrapped protectively around them. She was crying quietly to herself and that confused Harry; most children cried loudly and didn't care who heard them. Hermione's social skills and self awareness was developed far beyond that of any other three year old. He remembered how Snape was talking to her about a book she had read; Harry himself didn't read until he was close to ten, but that was due to his upbringing.

The now taller than usual Harry realised that the arguing had stopped and that allowed him to hear Hermione. Under her breath she was muttering something that he couldn't quite make out, but she stopped the second she noticed how close Harry was.

Hermione raised her head and looked beyond Harry, directly to Severus. "I am so sorry."

The room fell silent as Snape tried to calm down; so far he had snapped twice at her today and both times she wasn't doing anything particularly out of the ordinary. The black haired man suddenly saw himself as a child, curled up much the same, hiding from his drunken father. Tobias Snape would yell at his son for asking too many questions, or for making any noise at all.

Gritting his teeth as he choked down his pride, Severus Snape stepped forward and knelt in front of Hermione. He had promised himself that he would never be like his father. His features softened a bit as he saw Hermione's tear streaked face for the second time today. Not being himself with her was going to take some work.

"I'm sorry Hermione," Sucking in a deep breath Severus held out his hands and helped the tiny girl to her feet, "I've never looked after a child before and I'm finding it difficult to handle situations properly. It seems that I am out of my depth."

The girl before him gave him a hug and forgave him for his short comings. She was lifted off of her feet and suddenly felt the 'Bat of the Dungeons' hugging her back. Although the sensation felt strange to him, Snape couldn't deny that if he had been hugged as a child then maybe he wouldn't be so afraid of another person's touch.

Harry and Ron knew better then to mock their Professor for showing so much of himself and decided to step outside the pub instead. On the way out, Harry apologised to the bar tender for the ruckus they caused and paid for everyone's meals with a hefty tip. They were soon joined by Snape and Hermione who seemed to be fine now that they had said their apologises to each other. Hermione's smile seemed a bit brighter, but she no longer skipped around as she had done before.

Severus felt guilty for snapping at Hermione, even though he had shouted at her for much of the same thing during classes, it felt different. As if his shouting would affect how she grew up or somehow change her when she transformed back. He decided that a trip to Honeydukes may be in order and perhaps it would help stop his stomach tying its self in knots with shame.

As they walked towards the brightly coloured candy store, their nostrils were assaulted with the strong smells of sugar and liquorice. The bell on the door rang as it opened to allowed them to step inside and instantly Hermione's mouth watered at the sight of so many lollies. Unlike most children who would have run off and started to pull things down, the little girl casually walked beside Severus and kept her hands by her sides.

"Hermione," Severus' cool tones grabbed the three year olds attention, "Would you like to choose some lollies to take back to the castle with you?"

She nodded politely and grabbed a lollypop from a stand that must have held about fifty of the rainbow treats. Hermione handed the lollypop to Severus and waited for him to purchase it, but he stood there holding the candy with a confused look on his face.

"Don't you want anything else?" He asked carefully.

Hermione shook her head, "Daddy says that if you eat too much candy your teeth will fall out and never grow back and I'll have to eat food through a straw."

Severus never liked the lies parents told their children just to stop them from doing something; when the child found out that their mother or father had lied, it confuses them. One of the first things Severus was taught was that you never lied, even if the truth will hurt someone because lying will hurt more in the long run. How he wished things were that simple.

Just as Severus was about to explain that everything was good in moderation he was interrupted by the two pains in his side. Both boys were holding large bags overflowing with sugary treats; Harry then handed a slightly smaller bag to Hermione.

"This one's for you," He smiled, "Can't have you going without."

Hermione's face lit up as she held the bag, but then she looked at Severus as if to check she was allowed to take it; he simply nodded and put the lollypop back. Quickly darting around to grab a few of his own favourite assorted chocolates, Severus grabbed a few more then he normally would; a special treat for himself. They left Honeydukes a few Galleons poorer, but with smiles on each of their faces; even Snape seemed less tense.

They walked to a rundown shop at the other, less visited part of Hogsmead and piled into the shop named 'Wooden Wonders'. The store smelled musty and the strong scent of wood lingered. Wooden furniture lined the walls; chairs, tables, beds and chests of drawers sat side by side; each carved in different kinds of wood.

Severus marched straight up to the counter and rang the small service bell and waited. A very short man came out from behind the door of a separate room. He had large rimmed glasses on that made his eyes seem much too big for his body. White hair seemed to stick straight up from his head and in his hands was a carving knife. He smiled widely at his new customers and spoke with a raspy voice.

"How can I help you today gentlemen?" He put his knife down and dusted wood shavings off of his clothes.

"I need a bed to fit her." Severus pointed to Hermione and the girl waved. "Preferably out of oak."

All of Severus' furniture was oak and he didn't want to change that. He suddenly realised that she would need her own room and that meant speaking the Dumbledore about getting one added. Silently cursing himself for not thinking things through, he filed the information away for later.

"I see," the small man stepped up to Hermione and pulled a measuring tape out of his front pocket and let it fall to the floor as he held the other end. "130 centimetres should do it, what about the headboard? Anything special to be carved for the young Miss?"

Hermione looked at Severus and then to the wrinkly man in front of her, "Could I have a dragon?"

Not knowing how well the man carved, Snape looked to him to answer and saw the large grin on his face.

"Of course you can have a dragon Miss…"

"Hermione, my name is Hermione." The little girl held out her hand like she remembered Harry and Ron doing.

The old man laughed and shook her hand, "Well Miss Hermione, a dragon it is."

Stepping behind the counter the man took Severus' details and had him put down a deposit for the bed, but Snape insisted on paying the full amount now. He ordered the bed to be sent up to the castle once it was finished, and the man promised it would be done before she went to bed that night. Smiling again at his customers the man clapped his hands together.

"Was there anything else?"

Harry stepped forward, but looked back at the others and asked for a minute alone with the elderly wood carver. Taking the hint, Severus led the others out and towards Dervish and Bangs for some new books.

There were a few people in the book store, but it was fairly quiet, which only made Ron's sighs of annoyance even louder. Hermione on the other hand seemed more than happy to go up to the first book she saw and open it. The little girl carted the book to a chair and sat down to read without another word. Severus told her to stay where she was while he browsed and she nodded without looking up from the words she barely understood.

Knowing that child care was a subject he was less than knowledgeable about, he chose to research it in the best way he knew. By memorising every book on the subject. Unfortunately, every author had differing opinions on the same subject and so it seemed it would be slightly harder than he first thought.

Within half an hour Severus found that he needed at least twelve books ranging from "Raising a Magical Child" and "Lessons on Parenting" to "Magical Accidents: When your child starts showing their abilities" and "Taming Troublesome Toddlers". Just the titles of the books alone told him that he was seriously outgunned on the matter. Just because Hermione hadn't screamed or refused to do something yet, didn't mean she wasn't going to and Snape needed to be prepared.

Harry had joined them after another half hour of shopping with his pockets bulging a little more than they had before with shrunken goods. He didn't say anything so Severus didn't ask and he found that the boy he had hated on mere principle was tolerable in small doses. But if Weasley made one more comment about how boring reading was, Snape was going to hex him.

Severus decided that it wouldn't be such a bad idea to start Hermione on some simple books for her classes at Hogwarts. He grabbed a few from each subject and threw in a couple extra for potions; there was no point having her do nothing all day and she may as well be learning. In all, Severus ended up purchasing thirty six books; a new record.

He watched the Weasley boys eyes widen when he saw the stack of books that were floating behind Snape as he did a quick one last look at the shelves. Harry had also bought a few books and to Snape's surprise they were all for his school work. He knew that Ron wouldn't buy any books, not only because he couldn't afford it, but because he didn't want to. Such a waste.

Once all the books were paid for, Severus returned to the chair he had left Hermione on to find she was nearly a third of the way through it. He raised an eyebrow when she didn't look up from her readings.

"She does that sometime Sir," Harry appeared beside his Professor, "She'll get so into a book that she forgets where she is."

Harry finished his sentence with a loud clap of his hands and the little girl glanced up to find everyone staring at her. She smiled shyly and closed the book.

"Sev'rus?" She asked timidly, "Can I get this one?"

It was a transfiguration book, probably with moving picture and things changing shape. He held out his hand and Hermione gave him the book, he turned on his heels and walked up to the counter to pay for the book. He was glad all the books from here came with multiple charms on them to prevent damage or being misplaced.

He gave the book back to Hermione and they walked out of the book store and back outside; the wind had picked up and the snow was falling more heavily. Snape shrunk his books and put them in his pockets before picking Hermione up to get her off of the cold floor. He did a mental check list to see if he had gotten everything he would need; clothes, bed, books, she'd been fed…

He noticed Ron's red hair starting to poke through the dark curls and Harry's scar being etched into his forehead. Even if he didn't have everything, what he did have would have to do because he left the polyjuice potion back in the dungeons. They began to long trek back to the castle through the thickening snow.

The gates opened for them after Snape lowered the protective charms and they stepped through them to walk up the winding path. Harry and Ron had already changed back to themselves around half way up. On their way to the castle they met up with the Grounds Keeper, Hagrid who was trudging up the path, leaving large footprints in his wake.

"'Ello Professor!" His booming voice causing Hermione to hide her face, "And 'ho's under there with ya?"

His large hand pointed at Hermione, but she hid further into Snape's coat; he practically had to pry her out of it. Severus placed her on the ground and she ran to hide behind his legs; Hagrid was tall to most people, but to Hermione he might as well have been a skyscraper.

"Hello Hagrid." Harry smiled at the man who had told him he was a wizard on his eleventh birthday.

"'Ello 'Arry, didn't see there." Hagrid's smile faltered, "Not getting' into trouble I hope?"

"Not today Hagrid." Harry joked.

They all continued their walk up to the castle, by the time they made it to the entrance it had gotten quite dark and dinner would be soon. Instead of walking back and forth to the dungeons Severus went straight to the Great Hall carrying Hermione. To his surprise, there was an extra chair next to his with a letter on it.

He grabbed the letter, put Hermione in the chair and handed her the book she was reading in Dervish and Bangs. She sat the quietly while Severus read the letter.

"_Dear Severus,_

_I wish to apologise for my earlier accusations, I should have known better then to question your loyalties. You'll find I have added a bedroom for Hermione off of your own. The bed you ordered from Thilles has already arrived and been put in her rooms._

_You will be reimbursed for all your expenses today as well as a pay rise that should help cover any further expenses you should encounter._

_I truly am sorry and hope to hear back soon._

_Albus Dumbledore._

_Headmaster of Hogwarts: School of Witchcraft and Wizardry."_

The letter was crumpled in the dark haired mans hands and tossed across the table. How dare he think that a pay rise would just make everything better? That man didn't know when to keep his mouth shut or better yet when to use it. Severus calmed his nerves when he saw Hermione reading the book that would be hard for a third year to understand.

She was quiet, well mannered, well spoken and yet she didn't seem right. Maybe it was just an effect of the potion that she was so far ahead of her age; maybe on some level she remembered who she was. Either way, Severus knew he would have to question her sooner or later, but he wasn't going to do it in front of the whole school. Students and teachers had started to saunter in from their afternoon activities while Severus had joined Hermione and was reading.

He had charmed the parenting book to look like a potions one so not to cause any rumours. On top of everything that was said about him, he didn't need things being said about how he raised a child. The book had helped clear up a few things such as that awkward feeling you get when seeing your child naked. Although it was referring to newborns and having to clean them when you changed a nappy; it still helped Snape.

There were many references to how early you should start teaching your child different things and that the best way to tell is by trying. If the child wants to learn it, they will and if they're not ready it won't happen. Hermione seemed to love reading so maybe it was time to start letting her read those books on charms and potions. She knew how to use the toilet, so that was one less thing to teach her; even after her accident.

As the thought popped into his head he flicked through the book to the section on bedwetting. It might have been a once off thing, but if there was something wrong then he wanted to fix it quickly. The chapter was short and basically said that many children suffer from nightmares along with weak bladders and you should only be concerned when it continues as they get older.

He was pulled from his reading when the aroma of steak and roast potatoes hit him; he put his book down and filled up two plates. He tapped Hermione on the shoulder to stop her from reading and they ate in silence. There was the usual level of chatter during the evening meal, even though the novelty of Snape and Hermione had worn off, some of the girls still looked at him.

Severus didn't like the extra attention, he never liked being the centre of anything really, but it seemed that his feelings didn't matter. He was a spy for the Order of the Phoenix, he was the Dark Lord's 'spy' on Harry and now he had to babysit the brightest witch of her age because of a mistake in his classroom. Fate was cruel to Severus Snape, but he still held hope. Even if it was merely for a painless death.

Hermione was quiet to whole dinner; she didn't say she wasn't going to eat something because she didn't like it. In fact she had polished off her food before Severus and had gone back to her book, but the Potions Master could see her eyes fighting to stay open. He quickly finished his food and picked up Hermione just as her eyes closed for the last time. Adjusting the sleeping Gryffindor so she was comfortable, Severus chose to ignore the strange looks the students were giving him.

It was only when he was in his private rooms did she stir again and opened her tired eyes. Knowing the routine already, Hermione was put down and she stumbled to the bathroom for her nightly bath. Severus took off his coat to hang it up and rolled up the sleeves on his white shirt; when he stepped into the bathroom he found Hermione struggling with the buttons on her own coat. She started to grunt and become agitated the longer it took to undo the numerous tiny black buttons.

Feeling tired and angry, Hermione kicked off her shoes and tried more violently to tear the clothing from her person. It was at that moment she heard a small cough from behind her and she froze with the coat half over her head.

"I would prefer it if you didn't destroy my clothing in one of your childish fits." Severus' voice echoed slightly in the bathroom.

He saw the small girl slump her shoulders, "I can't get it off."

She stamped her foot to emphasise her point and Severus raised his eyebrow. He would hate to see this girl angry when she got older and knew a few nasty hexes. Instead of being snide and letting her struggle, Snape walked forward and pulled the coat back over her head and started to undo the buttons.

He undressed Hermione with a little less self disgust than last time and started running the water in the bath. Plonking the small girl in the warm water he stayed and watched her bathe, but she was too tired to wash herself and Severus was forced to do it for her. Telling himself that he wasn't a monster, just unlucky, Snape quickly washed the young Hermione with as little eye contact as possible.

Not wanting to prolong the whole situation, the uncomfortable Slytherin wrapped the tiny Gryffindor in a fluffy towel and carried her to the living room. He grabbed his coat off of the hanger and brought it with him to Hermione's new room.

When he opened the door he was met with a sight he thought he'd never see: a child's bedroom next to his. Her beautifully carved bed sat against the wall in the middle of the new room with a very detailed dragon on the head board. At the foot of the bed was a large box with another letter, but this one didn't have the school seal on it.

Severus placed the almost asleep Hermione on her bed, but she was barely taking in her surroundings and didn't seem to notice where she was. He opened the letter and read,

"_Professor Snape,_

_As a child I was never allowed toys or games, but now I have a chance to make sure someone else does. Hermione is my best friend and Ron and I are very grateful you are looking after her._

_I hope this makes her smile and will give you some alone time._

_From Harry Potter._

_P.S Thank you for the day in Hogsmead."_

To say he was shocked would be the understatement of the year; Harry Potter, son of James Potter had thanked him and done something nice. Suddenly his cautious self kicked in and he wondered if it could be a trap and the box was filled with Weasley products. Taking out his wand, Snape carefully opened the large wooden box to find no horrid smoke bombs or noise maker, but a pile of toys.

There was a stuffed dragon that smoked when you squeezed it, puzzles, building blocks, toy unicorns and more. All the toys looked rather expensive and Severus realised that Hermione was a child and would need these things to play with. Just because she liked reading doesn't mean it was the only thing she was going to want to do.

The whole day seemed like some weird dream to Severus, shaking his head in an attempt to rid his mind of useless ponderings he grabbed a soft toy and sat on the edge on the bed. Hermione had almost fallen asleep, so he would need to dress her quickly. Taking out the shrunken bags from his jacket pocket, Snape magiced them back to full size and the books overflowed onto the bed.

With a flick of his wand they all went zooming into his study to fill up the empty bookcase. He grabbed all the bags of clothes and changed them back to their normal size and grabbed a pair on undies and a pair of pyjamas Hermione must have thrown into the basket when no one was looking. Using a drying charm, Severus then quickly dressed the child and tucked her into bed. Casting a warming charm on the room helped fight back to cold that seemed to linger in the stone floor.

Knowing that he still needed to grade papers made Severus feel even more tired, but it had to be done. Grabbing all the clothes in his arms, Snape walked out and put them in his top drawer after moving his socks and underwear to a different one. He stepped back into the room to find Hermione already asleep, so he turned out the lights and went to his study to finish his work.

On his desk was a large package; opening it revealed the ingredients he would need for the aging potion. Rubbing his temples and ordering a coffee from the elves, Severus set himself up for a long night. At around three in the morning, when the candles wick was near its end and Severus was marking the last of the second year Slytherins papers there was a sound that nearly stopped his heart.

The scream that came from Hermione's room was not the one of a child, but something closer to a woman being stabbed. Jumping from his chair, Severus ran to the room connected to his and swung open the door. In the middle of the newly carved bed was Hermione, clawing at her face and leaving angry red marks across her cheeks. Panicking and having every bit of knowledge about nightmares leave him and instead froze. He stood in the doorway, breathing heavily and racking his brain to give him an idea as to what to do.

Hermione's screams died down, but she was still thrashing around and whimpering as she tied herself up in the sheets. Finally coming to his senses, Severus stepped closer to get a better look at the small dots of blood that had broken through the pale skin on the young girls face. He warily reached out and gently rocked Hermione awake. As soon as her eyes opened she screamed again and reeled back, hitting her head on the solid wood headboard.

The loud thud caused Snape to wince when Hermione burst into tears as she grabbed her head. Knowing the she had no idea what was going, Severus felt sorry for the confused girl. He reached out and waited for Hermione to see that he wasn't going to hurt her. Her eyes finally looked up to see the offered hand and she dived towards it, sobbing harder.

"Come now," Severus' deep voice was just above a whisper, "You know it was just a dream."

"It wasn't." Hermione protested. "It was real. He's gonna get me."

A confused look slowly made its way onto the older man's face and he felt his eyebrows draw together.

"Who's going to get you?" He asked.

"The man with the white face and the red eyes." Hermione was shaking, "He said he was going to get me."

Snape's heart rate increased rapidly, but his face remained as blank as it would have been had he been watching paint dry. He hugged Hermione and whispered how everything was fine and that there were many wards protecting his quarters. Severus tried to remember when he was last call to a Death Eater meeting, but his current state of mind was making it difficult. He knew it wasn't quite a month ago, which means that he would be called upon soon and he wasn't quite sure how to explain his situation.

Should he tell Voldermort the truth that he had the brains of the Golden trio sleeping in the room next to his? Or should he weave some kind of story about a distant relative dying and the child being left to him? The latter seemed a safer option, but it would take some preparation; fake memories needed to be created, his recent memories needed to be altered and above all he needed to seem very off hand about the whole thing. If Voldermort thought for one second that there was more to the story, Snape would be tortured and he really didn't want that.

Finding that the girl in his arms had gone to sleep he went to stand and leave, but her hands gripped his shirt tight. Sighing at how awkward the whole thing was, Snape picked up Hermione and took her into his study to finish off the essays he had assigned. She clung to his shirt the whole time as she slept on his lap while he wrote with the worst handwriting in his life.

"This is becoming more trouble than it's worth." Severus mumbled to his self as Hermione drooled a little on his clothes.

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**The relationship between Snape and Hermione slowly grows, but does the sour Ptions Master see it as just another thing he has to do for the side of the light or is there something more?**

**Find out next time on Anti-Age Me!**

**-Captain Zex**


	6. Chapter 6

**Dear lovely readers,**

**I wish to apologise for the lack of posts, but I don't have internet at the moment and I have to travel to my mums house so I can steal hers.**

**Please enjoy this new chapter and feel free to comment on anything you liked or disliked.**

* * *

Harry awoke in his dormitory earlier than he normally does so instead of getting up he lay in bed for another fifteen minutes to try and wake up properly. He rubbed his eyes before fumbling for his glasses that sat atop his nightstand. Sitting up he noticed a few of his school friends had already gotten up, but the majority were still asleep.

Today would be exactly two weeks since Hermione had been in the potions accident and although his grades had slipped a bit, it was nothing like Ron's had. Harry had told his ginger friend that he would need to pick up his game if he didn't want to fail his classes. He had even offered to help Ron as best he could, but he was turned down each time.

Ron had seemed very distant since Hermione was gone. Harry didn't want to say anything, but he was pretty sure his friend had feelings for the bushy haired girl that now resided in the dungeons. He sighed as he hauled himself out of bed to get dressed and make his way to breakfast. By the time he was ready a few more of the male students had arisen to greet the day, but he knew Ron would be a while so he just left.

The Great Hall, despite the early hour, was buzzing with conversation when Harry entered. Walking up to his other red headed friend, The-Boy-Who-Lived-To-Get-A-Passing-Grade sat down to have his scrambled eggs and bacon.

"Hey Harry." Ginny smiled as she slipped at her coffee.

Ginny loved coffee whereas Harry found its bitterness a little off putting. He had discovered that there were different flavours and was more than happy to give them a try at Ginny's request.

"Hey Gin, how are you?" Harry knew that Ginny liked him and he like her, but he was very shy about saying anything yet.

"Yeah I'm good, you?" She glanced up at the Head Table, "How are things with Hermione?"

Harry was surprised by how well everything was going; he was allowed to visit her to say goodnight although he felt that McGonagall had something to do with that. He was glad to see her carting around the toy dragon around with her; it made him feel like he was helping in some way. Hermione was always smiling, even if it was a strange smile.

Snape had told Harry about her nightmare and Harry did his best to make sense of it. The Potions Master suggested that some of her more powerful memories might still be hidden in her mind and would show themselves in the form of dreams. After that, Harry felt sad for his friend; she would be having horrid night terrors and wouldn't know why.

"She seems pretty happy, Snape's being nice to her and that's enough for me." He bit into some toast and gave a small wave to the girl at the teachers table who waved back excitedly.

"Do you reckon I could see her? Would he let me?" Ginny hadn't seen Hermione properly and now that she sat under Snape's desk every lesson it made it even harder.

"Why don't you come with me tonight? Ron hasn't shown up for a while now and I think that two Gryffindors is the limit." Harry joked, but Ginny seem more than happy with the bone she had been tossed.

"I would love that Harry," The girl's smile warmed her face, "I hope Snape doesn't mind."

"He mostly stays in his study so it should be ok." Harry had been shocked when the man he thought hated him had shown him to his private quarters.

That was when Ron stopped coming to say goodnight, he thought it was a plan to kill the both of them. When Harry asked why Snape was trusting him so much his answer was to be expected.

"_I'm not trusting you Potter, I just don't trust other people a lot more and so she will be meeting you here and not on the floor of the hallways."_

Harry knew there were people who wanted to hurt Hermione and eventually someone would make a mistake that would cost her, her life. His thoughts went to a dark place, but it was the melodic voice of Ginny Weasley that bought him back.

"You mean we have to sit in his rooms?" She seemed concerned, "Is that allowed?"

The boy before her had thought the same thing, but the want to make sure his friend was doing ok outweighed his fear of the Bat of the Dungeons.

"I think the circumstances are a bit complicated." At that, Harry finished his breakfast and headed to class when he saw the Potions Master usher the tiny Hermione out of the hall.

He knew that classes wouldn't start for another half hour, but he was doing his best to prove to Snape that he wasn't his father. Harry had finished all his assignments for potions last night and was hoping to hand them in before anyone else. Although if you did this in any other class, the teacher would give you the option to rewrite it if they felt you could do better, Snape was different.

He thought that you should always hand in your best work and if you happened to hand in an essay early he would just give you the next one before everyone else. That was how Hermione had so much free time by the end of the school year; she got all the essays out of the way straight off the bat. Her absence had not gone unnoticed by the group and the teachers were starting to realise just how much she did for her fellow peers.

The hallways were pretty deserted as everyone was still eating their breakfast, but Harry knew that Severus took extra time in the morning to make sure ingredients were ready for the students. Today was another brewing day and even though they were only doing simple potions still, it was helping Harry revise what he had ignored in previous years. Snape had even quietly given him two points for his brewing the other day.

Raising his hand, Harry knocked on the dense dungeon door and opened it when a voice from within allowed it. Stepping into the room he could see all the cauldrons out and Snape writing instructions on the board. Hermione was sitting on his desk pretending that the toy dragon was flying around, but when she saw Harry she jumped off the desk and ran to give him a hug.

"Hello Hermione, how are you today?" Harry asked with a smile.

"I'm great; Sev'rus said I can watch today as long as I wear this." She then thrust her hand in Harry's face to show him the bracelet around her wrist.

It was simple enough; silver with a small owl pendant on it.

"It has multiple protection charms on it." Snape spoke without turning around.

Harry's eyebrow raised a little against his will, was Severus Snape reassuring him? Not that it would matter if he was or not, at the end of the day Harry knew he didn't have a say. Rummaging through his bag, Harry pulled out the essay and placed it on Snape's desk. Instead of waiting for the apparently grumpy Snape to say anything, Mr Potter turned his attention back to the little girl at his feet.

Hermione's hair was still damp from her bath that morning, something Harry did his best not to dwell on. Once he had asked Snape how he did things like dress and bathe Hermione and for the first time Harry saw just how uncomfortable the wizard was with a small child. He never asked again despite not getting an answer.

"So Hermione, what did you have for breakfast?" Harry asked as he sat down on his stool.

"I had chicken brains…"

"Scrambled egg." Snape corrected.

"… and pigs bum…"

"Bacon."

"… and fruit blood…"

"Juice."

Hermione fell on the floor laughing while Severus just sighed and turned around, stalked over and hauled Hermione off of the floor and into the air. He caught her as she came down and held her at arm's length.

"You are insufferable on a whole new level Miss Granger."

The young girl giggled and reached out to try and hug the sour Professor, but he simply threw her high into the air again, only this time he stepped back and let her fall. Harry's heart stopped as he went to catch her, knowing he would be too late.

Just as she was about to hit the floor she stopped moving and hovered about five inches from the ground before slowly sinking until her feet were flat on the stone floor. Feeling his head spin, Harry also lowered himself to the floor to stop for passing out on the spot.

"I told you Potter, her bracelet has many protection charms on it." Snape looked smug, "No harm can come to her."

"How?" That was all that Harry could mutter as he took some calming breaths.

"I've been working on it for a while; it will help my focus during class time. Last night after you had left, Miss Granger decided she would read a book," He paused and looked down at Hermione, "From the top of the book shelf."

The little girl looked embarrassed and rubbed the back of her head where a lump should have been if Severus hadn't healed it.

"She fell and nearly broke her neck, silly child. That's when I put the Hovering charm on it." Snape went and sat behind his desk, "From now on you are to knock on my study door when you are about to leave so she is not left unattended."

A pang of guilt stabbed Harry in the chest as he nodded; he wasn't going to be the reason Hermione got hurt again. Slowly standing again, Harry turned to sit back on his chair and watched as Severus picked up Hermione and placed her back on his desk. It was strange how accustomed Harry had become with this whole situation and even stranger still how well Snape was handling everything.

The boy didn't doubt for one second that his Potions Master would rather not have to take care of Hermione, but he was doing it well. He had seen all the books on parenting he had gotten that day at Hogsmead and knew that Snape had probably read all of them. Harry had been worried when Ron suggested his mother took Hermione to the Burrow. Not only was it on the Deatheater watch list, but Molly tended to smother children. It wasn't a bad thing, kind of; he just knew that a young Hermione would probably hate it just as much as the older one did.

Hermione was a very independent person, even as a child. Although, she had been very clingy with Snape in the beginning, she was starting to become her own person. She was one of a kind and Snape had let her be her own person without impressing her with his own opinions. He was being a better father than Harry thought he would be and this made the only living Potter respect him in a whole new way.

They sat in silence until the class room started to fill with students. Snape took his normal stance at the front of the class with Hermione doing the same thing on top of his desk. Both stood with their arms folded and a glare on their faces, even if Hermione's kept slipping because she wanted to laugh. No one said anything about the sudden reappearance of the child in their class and who would? Severus Snape was not a man you would question about such things.

Once everyone was seated and door was slammed shut there was a tension in the room that began to rise when silence had fallen. Harry looked up to find Snape giving a strange look; he was almost smiling.

"Today's lesson will give you the chance to go straight back to your original course." Snape's voice echoed slightly.

The words sunk in and there were a few murmurs as to what they might have to do. Snape raised his hand and silence fell again. The entire room watched as he walked behind his desk and pulled out another cauldron and placed it on his desk.

"The instructions for a basic potion are written on the board," He paused and grabbed some ingredients from under his desk and put them next to the cauldron, "If one of you can brew the potion better or of equal quality then the one on my desk then we will resume the curriculum."

A girl in the middle of the room raised her hand.

"Yes, Miss Kindle."

"But Sir, that's not fair." The light haired girl complained, "You're a Master of potions, we'll never beat you."

"I never said I was brewing Miss Kindle." Snape smiled again. "Begin."

Only one person in the room started moving and that was the three year old standing on Severus' desk. Hermione had already started chopping her mugwort when Harry realised that Snape wasn't joking and that's why he was smiling. Jumping to his feet, Harry practically ran to the store rooms followed closely by the rest of the class. They were being put up against the brightest witch of their time and she was a toddler.

Not being too sure on how much Snape had taught her in his spare time, Harry had a feeling that she was still going to do extremely well. By the time Harry had started on his potion, Hermione was about a third way through hers. It was only a fifteen minute Stomach Settling potion, but one wrong move and the drinker would be vomiting for a few hours.

Harry was nervous, but he concentrated as best he could and tried to block out Ron's constant chatter next to him.

"What's he doing?" Ron whispered annoyed, "Can he let her do that?"

"She's fine Ron; now watch your knife before you cut your thumb off." Harry had been doing quite well at potions and he didn't want to botch it up now.

He now knew how Hermione had felt every time they asked her a stupid question during a class; no wonder she snapped at them all the time. She worked hard to get good grades and they would waste her time with wild theories about useless crap. Harry swore to himself that he would apologise to her when she was back to normal.

The room was dead silent except for the soft roaring of the magical fires and the quiet clinking of students stirring their cauldrons. Snape had not moved nor spoken since they had started, he merely watched and waited. Only ten more clockwise stirs and Harry would be finished, but in his peripheral he could see Hermione bottling hers already.

With his last two stirs the potion lightened like it was meant to and Harry gave himself a mental pat on the back. Quickly dowsing the flame, Harry used a ladle to put some of his potion in a vial and he quietly walked up to the desk to hand it in. Snape grabbed Harry's sample and held it next to Hermione's. To Harry, there was no difference, but no comment was made and instead he was shooed back to his own table.

One by one the students handed in their potions, hoping they did well enough. Hermione, not realising how important this whole thing was, sat idly playing with her dragon. The tension was thick and everyone's nerves were strung high; the only one calmer than Hermione was Snape. No one moved for a very long time, but not one person dared to ask the actual question.

Did they pass?

Careful not to give anything away, Severus started his lecture on the use of potions in other fields of work such as Herbology. Harry took out a quill and decided it was best to note things down in case they would be mentioned in the next class. The lecture wasn't a long one and was finished by the halfway mark of the lesson.

Snape flicked his wand and new instructions were placed on the board. At the top of the dusty chalk board the title: 'Level 5 Short Term Memory Loss Recovery', was underlined and the steps for making the potion were listed under it.

"This particular potion will take three lessons to complete," Severus' voice boomed, "Should you cast a faulty stasis charm, you will lose you work and will not get a mark for it. The instructions are on the board, you may begin."

The question had been answered; they had done well enough to pick up from where they left off. Harry knew that if the person that had beaten Hermione was a Slytherin they would have been publically rewarded. Unfortunately, they may never know who had won Snape's little test and the Boy-Who-Lived was okay with that; as long as they could still complete their school work.

Harry was surprised at how easy he was finding the potion; maybe catching up on what he hadn't done in previous years had helped more than he thought. Ron on the other hand had turned to Harry and had been asking him an array of questions about the potion. Trying not to get frustrated or caught, Harry whispered for Ron to shut his mouth.

His friend looked taken back, but did as he was asked. Snape had watched this and was rather pleased with Potter's efforts; even if they were just so he could keep seeing his friend. Every time the deadly Potions Master stalked behind Harry, he involuntarily tensed, just as he had for nearly six years. The brown haired boy cursed himself for his own unnecessary fear, but understood what Neville was talking about. The older man was still intimidating with a child on his hip.

Hermione clung tightly to Snape's teaching robes and she leaned over various students cauldrons to assess them. Severus would ask her questions, like what was going to be added next or what the student had done wrong. She only got a few wrong, but Snape never teased her, he merely told her she was wrong and then gave her the answer. To the young girl it was the most interesting thing she had done.

The pint sized Gryffindor seemed to soak in the knowledge like it was the first glass of water she had drunk after walking in the desert. Her eyes were wide with wonder and excitement; Harry hadn't seen her this happy in days. He couldn't wait to bring Ginny to the dungeons to play with Hermione; they had only been introduced a week ago and Hermione loved her. A small smile played on Harry's lips as he thought of Ginny.

Five minutes before the bell rang for lunch, Severus told the students to finish the step they were on then cast their stasis charms.

Harry had actually been on the last step that was written on the board and so he sprinkled in the lemon grass, watched his potion go a pale green and grabbed his wand. He remembered a trick Hermione had taught him about making sure a stasis charm had worked properly. Raising his wand, Harry cast the strongest stasis charm he knew and then tried to add more lemon grass.

A good stasis charm wouldn't let you add anything and so the ingredients should look as if they hit an invisible barrier and fall to the side of the cauldron. Much to Harry's relief, the finely chopped lemon grass did just this and so he levitated his work over to the back shelf. He wrote his name on a piece of parchment and used and weak sticking charm to stick it to the cauldron. As an extra precaution, another Hermione trick, he counted the spaces before his cauldron and which shelf his sat on and wrote it down in his note book. That way, if someone changed the name on the parchment or he forgot, it was written down and dated.

Harry waited patiently as the classroom emptied and he waved at Ron to go on without him. The red head looked annoyed, but stalked off to get his lunch. When Harry stepped up to the desk Snape was marking his papers and Hermione was brushing his hair with what looked like a dolls hairbrush. Although he wanted to take a picture, Harry Potter had learnt not to look anything other than disinterested when he witnessed Snape in father mode. Harry noted that he would make a great dad; either that or he was the most tolerant man on the planet. Snape looked up at Harry and sighed heavily.

"What is it Potter?" He sounded exhausted.

"I was just going to ask if Ginny would be allowed to see Hermione tonight." He rubbed the back of his head, "If that's okay with you Sir?"

Before Snape could answer, Hermione sprang from the desk cheering loudly and chanting 'Gin-Gin' as she danced around the two gentlemen. Severus hung his head and spoke in a quietly calm voice.

"Hermione sweet, could you please not shout." Hermione stopped in her tracks and apologised, "Just use your inside voice, okay?"

Harry tried his best to find his shoes interesting, but he couldn't help but stare and Snape and wonder where the name 'Hermione sweet' had come from. As if he just realised what he said, Snape suddenly looked more aware and awake.

"That should be fine," Severus choked out, "You may come after dinner."

"Thank you Sir." Harry bent down and hugged Hermione, "I'll see you later."

The young Miss Granger gave Harry a kiss on the cheek and said goodbye before going back to brushing Snape's hair. Just as Harry shut the door he chose to linger. He wasn't sure how he felt about the Bat of the Dungeons calling his best friend by that name. Leaning against the door he heard the middle of a conversation between the two people on the other side.

"… need to talk about it eventually Hermione." Snape's voice was still calm, but with the hint of annoyance.

"I don't want to," Hermione's childish comment made Harry chuckle.

"Miss Granger, I will not tolerate this constant avoidance. I feel I have been patient enough and have given you enough time to think it through." Harry raised an eyebrow; did he really talk to her like that?

"But Sev'rus, I like it here." There was a long pause, "I like living with you."

Suddenly confused, Harry leaned in closer to the door. He wasn't aware that Hermione had to leave or that Snape wanted her out.

"Don't you wish to return to your parents?" Severus asked.

"No." The tiny foot stomping could be heard behind the dungeon door.

"And so we have returned to the original question," The Potion Master's voice sounded as if he had asked this question a few times, "Why?"

Harry pushed his ear right up to the door; he needed to know what this was about.

"Why do you want to live with me? Why have you not asked about your parents since your first day? Why haven't you questioned why you are here or when you will be home?" Hermione had started crying, "Why, Hermione Granger?"

The young girl wailed loudly and that was Harry's cue to leave; gently pushing off from the door he walked towards the Great Hall to join his friends. He sat next to Ginny and across from Ron and Neville who proceeded to bombard him with questions as soon as his arse hit the seat.

"So can I come tonight?"

"What took you so long?"

"Do we have to be in his rooms?"

"Are you gonna eat that?"

Harry ignored them until the onslaught finished, in that time he filled his plate and had begun eating his lunch. Once he had eaten his fill he stood and left; not answering his friends constant nagging. Ginny had run after him and jumped in front of his to prevent him from walking any further.

"Harry," She waved in his face, "What's wrong?"

"I didn't sleep well, you know…" He paused and pointed to his scar, "Nightmares."

"I get that Harry, and I would help if I knew how, but that doesn't mean you can just ignore us." She placed her hands on her hips, "We're your friends and we're trying to help, but you're not letting us."

"I need to do this by myself." Harry could feel his head starting to ache.

"When will you get it through your thick skull that you only have to do one part of this yourself?" She smiled, "The rest is free game."

Knowing that it was a losing battle, Harry just smiled and nodded; hoping that would be enough.

"I know Gin," Adjusting his bag Harry turned to leave, "Also, Snape said to be there after dinner."

Before he knew what was happening, Harry Potter was being kissed.

"Thanks Harry." Ginny's half lidded eyes shone with her intent.

"You're welcome." Was all he could choke out.

Suddenly she was gone it a swirl of red hair, leaving the Boy Wonder to wonder what had happened. His headache seemed to burst from behind his eyes and the moment was lost in a sea of blinding pain. Stumbling out of the castle, Harry managed to make it to a tree to vomit. Wiping his mouth, he vanished the sick and sat down under the trees shady branches.

"Just five minutes." Harry mumbled to himself as he lay on the grass.

Sleep couldn't come fast enough and soon a puddle of Potter was snoring quietly.

A shift kick to his shin had Harry on his feet in seconds with his wand pointed at a blurry figure.

"Hold on mate," Ron's voice calmed Harry a bit, "Here."

Harry reached out and grabbed his glasses from the red haired boy. The blurry image focused and Harry could see that it was getting dark.

"Where were you? You missed history and transfiguration." Ron had started walking off, "C'mon or you're gonna miss dinner too."

Knowing that McGonagall would understand Harry didn't let the fact that he had slept his afternoon away get to him too much. He thought to himself that he really should have had his invisibility cloak with him. Blinking his eyes tiredly, Harry realised how angry he felt.

"Something must have gone wrong on his end." Harry mumbled to himself remembering the nightmare he had during his quick nap amongst nature.

Dinner felt like a blur and the brown haired boy did his best to participate in conversation during his meal, but he still felt angry and didn't want to snap. The weird stares he was getting didn't go unnoticed and Harry wished that he was just a normal boy. When the nightly feast came to an end and only a few students sat in groups to continue their conversation, Harry and Ginny were already at the dungeon doors.

Ginny had voiced her feelings on being allowed to see Hermione the whole way over and it only served to make Harry's headache worse. Harry knocked on the door and it opened instantly. Before he could blink, there was a child being thrust into his arms and a tall dark figure pushing past him.

"Sir?" Harry watched Snape spin around and face him.

"I've been summoned Potter, please put her to bed around nine."

"He's angry Sir," Snape raised an eyebrow "I don't know why, but I thought I'd let you know."

Severus didn't thank people, but he did nod his head in understanding before stalking down the halls. Hermione screamed in Harry's arms for the Potions Master to come back, but he never did and she soon went limp as she started crying. The fact that Ginny was standing next to her seemed to have no effect on her sadness.

Adjusting the girl so he could walk, Harry stepped into the potions room and behind the shelves to the door he knew was there. Really hoping that the wards were down Potter took a deep breath as he entered Severus Snape's personal rooms. Ginny was just as hesitant although her reasoning was twofold. She had never been in a teachers quarters before and she didn't think the first one she'd see would be Snape's.

The room was normal looking; no torture devices, and for some reason that didn't help the red heads nerves. Harry sat on the two seater couch he always sat at and tried to cheer Hermione up. Although she had stopped crying, she hadn't asked what Harry had done that day or if she could stay up late. Raising his wand, Harry accio'ed the toy dragon he had bought Hermione from their trip to Hogsmead. He placed it next to her and she grabbed it and hugged it furiously causing smoke to pour from its nostrils.

"He will come back you know." Harry said calmly.

"I know." Hermione mumbled.

"He doesn't want to leave you; he just has to right now." He tried to explain.

"I know."

"So if you know this then why are you crying?" Snape had told Harry on day one that he wasn't to talk to Hermione like a baby and so he never had.

"I don't want him to go." Ginny had listened and looked utterly shocked, she didn't realise how attached to Snape she had become.

"How about we play a game?" Harry suggested, "What do you like playing?"

"I like to pretend I'm a knight and I save people." Hermione smiled slightly.

Suddenly her face lit up and she jumped off of Harry's lap and pulled his hand telling him he just had to see something. Smiling, Harry stood and followed Hermione to what he assumed was her room. Ginny was behind them and both let out a little gasp when they realised that they had just walked into Snape's bedroom. They had stopped walking, but Hermione continued to tug on Harry's hand. Feeling more than uncomfortable, they followed Hermione to a door across the room.

There was a wooden sign that hung about half way that read 'Hermione's Room' in cute and colourful letters. Hermione had to jump to reach the handle, but it looked like she did it all the time and the door swung open. Upon entering Harry could see why she was so excited. The jungle that Snape had created under his desk was now how Hermione's room looked.

Thick vines hung from the ceiling, the floor was covered in green moss and right in the middle was a tree with a tree house in it. Harry was shocked at the amount of effort his sour Potions Master had put into making a play room for a child he didn't want. Ginny on the other hand laughed loudly and ran over to the tree house. If she stood on her tip toes she could see into the window and inside was a slightly expanded castle-looking room with a throne and tiny suits of armor.

Seeing the room for the first time, Harry couldn't remember how to speak for several minutes until finally Hermione came up to him and asked if he liked it.

"I love it." He stammered.

"Thank you," Hermione smiled, "Sev'rus made it just for me 'cause there are no other children to play with and he said he is too old to play with me. But yesterday he pretended to be a monster so I could slay him and save the princess."

Hermione held up the battered looking doll that he assumed was the princess, but her smile faded.

"Sev'rus said that he has to go fight a monster and that's why he's gone, but he didn't take his sword." She pointed to the discarded toy sword near the base of the tree. How can he fight a monster without his sword?"

Hermione was on the verge of tears and that's when Ginny stepped in; she walked over and scooped Hermione up and sat on her bed.

"Hey, hey, hey, you know how tough Snape is; he doesn't need a sword to beat some lousy monster." Ginny couldn't believe what she was saying, "He's a wizard, and he'll just turn the monster into something harmless like a bunny."

"Really?" Hermione's eyes lit up again, "He can do that?"

"He did all this, didn't he?" Ginny pointed around the room, "So I reckon you have nothing to worry about."

She had been wrong in the end, but the three Gryffindors wouldn't know until the following morning when they would be summoned to the Headmaster's office.

Hermione was happy that she had someone to play with and Harry did his best to stay calm despite the angry voice in his head. As the night went on and nine o'clock rolled closer, the pint sized witch had to fight to keep her eyes open. Ginny had already fallen asleep on the soft floor after running around for hours playing knights. Smiling tiredly, Harry picked up Hermione and put her in bed; he didn't bathe her or even change her clothes.

She didn't argue or say she wasn't tired and for that, Harry was grateful. As soon as her head hit the pillow, small snores could be heard and she snuggled into the warm covers. Although he too was exhausted, Harry was worried about Snape; something he never thought he'd feel. Leaving the two girls to get some sleep, Harry went back to the couch to wait for his Professor to return. He could have left; he knew that when Snape got back to find Harry still there he would be furious. But Snape's wards were down and Harry didn't know how to put them back so he wasn't leaving Hermione alone.

When the small clock in the corner chimed eleven, Harry put down his potions book and rubbed his eyes. Deciding it would be ok to have a nap, he lay down on the couch after kicking off his shoes and putting his glasses on the table. It felt like he had just shut his eyes when someone was shaking him awake again.

Blinking tiredly, Harry reached for his glasses and feared to worse; that Snape had come back to find Harry on his couch. To the Gryffindors surprise there was a Professor standing above him, but it wasn't Snape. McGonagall was wearing a green dressing gown and her hair was a mess, but she still managed to pull Harry to his feet before he could say anything.

"Where are Miss Weasley and Miss Granger?" She asked in a whisper.

"In Hermione's room." Harry put on his glasses and walked to the room.

Passing through Snape's room, Harry opened the slightly ajar door to find Ginny still on the floor and Hermione upside down in her bed.

"Wake Miss Weasley and grab Miss Granger," McGonagall's face was stern and she watched Harry wake Ginny.

The red head looked confused, but helped wake Hermione enough to pick her up and take her out of the room. Without asking any questions, they followed their teacher up many winding stairs; they would have to hand Hermione over to one another every so often when their arms got tired. Finally they came to the legendary spiral staircase that would lead to Dumbledore' office.

"Sugar canes." Minerva's voice wavered only slightly and the staircase started to wind upwards.

They were told to enter after knocking on the wooden door and they all piled into the room. Inside was Dumbledore and a very sleepy looking Ron. Taking the offered seats, Harry finally remembered how to speak.

"Sir?" He sat Hermione in his lap and tried to not look awkward, "What's going on?"

"Harry my boy," Dumbledore said quietly, "There has been an accident."

As realisation dawned on him, Harry noticed that Snape wasn't in the room. There was a long silence; the last time those words were spoken, their worlds were turned upside down.

"Severus was called away tonight, as you both know," He pointed to Harry and Ginny while Ron tried to stay awake, "Hagrid found him just inside the school gates a little while ago, apparently Fang could smell him and raced off to find him."

"Is he ok?" Harry asked.

"He's in the hospital wing unconscious; it's a wonder he made it that far." Albus waited a moment before continuing, "I have a few questions."

They all nodded and the Headmaster went on.

"You three are the only people that Severus has allowed into his rooms in his teaching career besides myself and I'm afraid I must ask you to keep doing so without him for a while. Severus will be under Poppy's care for at least a week and although I can cover the classes I will need you to look after Miss Granger."

"But Sir," Ron butted in, "Can't one of the other teachers take care of her?"

"I'm afraid not Mr Weasley, Severus has made it clear that he believes us incapable of the task."

"What about mum?" Ginny asked, "She would love it."

"Unfortunately, Severus thinks differently." Albus sighed, "You must understand that we have tried every other option, but none of us can enter his rooms."

"But Sir, Professor Snape only lowers his wards," Harry insisted, "They're down right now."

"I'm afraid you're wrong Potter," McGonagall interrupted, "The only reason I could get through was because Severus allowed me to. He was conscious enough to give me the password before he passed out."

Harry's head was hurting badly and his lack of sleep wasn't helping.

"Then how come we can get it?" He asked.

"Because Severus trusts you." That's all the Headmaster said and it seemed to be enough. "My other order of business is the aging potion; is it going well?"

"From what I can tell Snape has started it and it should be a couple of months before it's done." Harry rubbed his head to try and push the pain away.

They were questioned for another fifteen minute before being sent back to bed, Ginny had offered to accompany Harry back to the dungeons, but he refused her. Confused, but slightly glad, Ginny and Ron went back to their dorms. Carrying the sleeping Hermione, Harry slowly made his way back to the dungeons to go to sleep.

With Hermione back in her bed, Harry went back to the couch, not feeling brave enough to sleep in Snape's bed. As he closed his eyes he knew there would be hell to deal with in the morning, but he would face that when the time came.

Sleep came fast, as did the nightmares and soon it was morning with Harry feeling no better rested than before. Fumbling in the barely lit room, Harry wrapped his fingers around his glasses and put them on. As the room came into focus so did his memories from last night.

Deciding it was better to just rip the proverbial bandaid off in one go, he walked into Hermione's room with as much hesitation as one would have approaching a dragon. The small lump under the blanket told Harry that the tiny girl was still sleeping. He sat at the end of her bed and waited patiently. It wasn't long before the soft snores stopped and Hermione sat up rubbing he eyes.

"Hi Harry," She yawned, "Where's Sev'rus?"

She was quick. Not knowing what to say, Harry stayed quiet for a moment. Breathing in deep, he answered as best he could.

"Professor Snape is in the hospital wing," Hermione looked up at him, "The monster he was fighting hurt him badly, but he will get better."

Hermione didn't cry, she didn't scream and she didn't break down. Instead she jumped off of the bed, went to her drawers and started getting dressed. Quickly turning away, Harry wondered why she was being so calm about the whole thing. He felt a tugging on his shirt and Hermione was there in her little Snape costume holding up a hair brush.

He sat her down and gently brushed her hair and tied it back into a pony tail just like he had seen Snape do. Once he was finished, Hermione put the brush back. Grabbed her toy sword and marched out of the room without another word. Knowing he couldn't let her wander around by herself, Harry followed the determined Gryffindor out into the corridors.

With her little head held high, Harry knew that if he could see her face, Hermione would be scowling and for that reason alone he didn't ask her to stop. They walked for a long time and it was only when Harry looked up did he realise where they were. Hermione had stopped right in front of the Hospital doors; he watched he take a deep breath before entering.

It was only when they were right near the curtained off section did Harry realise that Snape's injuries could be visible and possibly scary to look at. Before he could say anything, Hermione pulled the curtain back and stepped forward.

Snape was awake with a cup of coffee half way to his mouth when he was interrupted. He had a black eye which was mostly healed, an angry cut on his cheek, burn marks on his left arm around his now visible dark mark and a sling around his right arm. To both Harry and Snape's surprise the little girl climbed onto the bed and sat in Snape's lap. There were silent tears running down her face, but she didn't sob.

"You forgot your sword." Hermione held out the toy and waited.

Severus Snape put down his coffee, grabbed the sword and spoke in the hoarse voice that suggested he had been yelling in pain for hours.

"I did, didn't I," He waved it side to side; "I'll remember it next time."

Harry was more surprised when he grabbed some toast off of his plate, covered it in jam and handed it to Hermione.

"Don't you have class Potter?" Snape's voice didn't hold any malice; it was merely a question.

"I'm not sure Sir, I was meant to be taking care of Hermione."

"No need for that," Snape turned to Hermione and gave the closest thing to a smile Harry had ever seen, "She's going to be looking after me."

Harry nodded and slowly walked out of the Hospital Wing shaking his head and smiling like an idiot.

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**I hope you liked reading from Harry's POV and I will have another chapter up as soon as I can.**

**-Captain Zex**


	7. Chapter 7

**I apologise for the extremely late update. I must reassure you that this story is NOT abandoned, I just have to travel before I can update due to my lack of internet... That and I'm a bit lazy ^.^**

**Please write loving reviews and should have another chapter soon enough.**

**-Captain Zex**

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The night that followed was Snape's most difficult night yet. Not only was he in extreme pain, but he also had a three year old who would kick his ribs every now and then causing him to bite his tongue so not to yell out in agony. He wasn't allowed more than three pain potions a day due to their highly addictive relief. Even though he knew this, Severus would still demand them day and night from the Head nurse.

Despite his job as a spy, Severus Snape did not handle pain well. When in front of the Dark Lord, he could pretend that he was okay, but behind the curtains of the Hospital Wing he was a child who would complain non-stop. It took him just over a week to recover and by that time Madam Pomfrey was pushing his out of the door mumbling about him not coming back. His classes had been covered by Albus himself and his second year Hufflepuffs and Gryffindors got the fright of their life when the sour Professor stalked into the classroom and not that twinkling old codger.

Hermione had sat with Severus for nearly the whole time he was healing, only leaving when Snape needed a break where upon Harry and Ginny would play with her until she slept. Ginny had made a comment on how looking after Hermione made her think about her future and her own children causing the Boy Wonder to go red.

They were to keep up with Hermione's reading that Snape had assigned, but she did a better job at remembering then they did. At one point Ginny decided to flick through the large tomb Hermione had been reading each night only to find it at a higher level than what she assumed the seventh years were reading. A small smile graced her features when she realised that the Know-It-All would grow up to be smarter than she was before the accident and it was thanks to the 'Bat of the Dungeons'.

The official story that Snape had told Voldemort was that the child in his care was that of a distant relative who had recently died. When further probed about the situation, Severus said that the girl showed little intelligence and would be more of a distraction then a help to his plans. Not taking too kindly to being told that he couldn't mould the child himself, Tom decided to punish Severus for not bringing better news. Although he had been greatly injured, the Potions Master was sure that the Dark Lord no longer wanted the child and would leave her alone.

Voldemort had also asked about Hermione and if she did in fact reside at St Mungo's after the accident, but Snape decided that it was better to lie. He told the Dark Lord that Albus had taken her to a hospital, but not told anyone where and that she could be in Hawaii for all he knew. Another flash of green later, Severus picked his aching body up off the floor and was dismissed. He barely remembered Fang drooling on his face and Hagrid's booming voice as he was carried to the hospital wing. The poor half giant had sobbed the whole way there and had pleaded with Snape to stay alive because that little girl needed him. In truth, that was the one thought that kept him fighting.

His recovery was slow and painful, just like every other time the Dark Lord saw fit to punish him; using spells that were designed solely to cause pain. He had several new scars to add to the collection, one of which was an angry red line stretching from his left shoulder to just before his right hip bone. He wouldn't dare let Hermione see his scars, even after she begged to see if he was okay herself. Surprisingly, she had never questioned about his Dark Mark every time he sat her in the bath; he wouldn't be able to lie and the truth hurt too much.

On the Tuesday, he sat staring into space while the last class of the day scribbled furiously at their desks; all taking the silence as a blessing. During his first class back he had started to yell at a student who had put a second quail egg into their cauldron when the potion only asked for one. The room began to fill with a stomach turning smell and just as Snape raised his voice, Hermione started crying. In fact, any time he yelled, whether it was directed at her or not, the child before him would burst into tears. By the end of third class, Severus Snape had given up on yelling all together and chose to ignore his classes.

Hermione sat at his desk reading a book that was much too big for her as she would continuously ask what different words meant. Severus had cried a lot as a child and it was all because of his father, so to try and not make the same mistakes, he was avoiding tears at all costs. At first he had been angry at being cut short mid rant, but then he noticed something. The second he had stopped yelling and pacing the desks, the classroom seemed to relax.

He had always taught the same way because he believed that potions was a dangerous class to teach and if the students weren't watched then there would be accidents. When he had first started teaching, there were people in the class who he had once gone to school with, people he had eaten lunch with and so he needed to demand respect from them to cut down on fooling around. He became harsher and soon he could intimidate anyone.

From that day on he hadn't changed; he would always enter with a bang of the door to spread fear and he would only feed that fear as the class went on. But over the course of the day he realised it was that same fear that had caused the biggest accident in his class. He had scared Mr Longbottom to the point of endangering himself and others around him. Had Hermione lay in that potion much longer, she would have been unmade and the mere thought made him sick.

So, there he sat, staring at his classroom full of students with as much interest one would have while watching paint dry or grass grow. By the end of his first week back, using the same teaching technique he had newly acquired there was a visible improvement in the way his class flowed. There less mistakes and soon, the general standard of potions being turned in also started improving. He had noticed that Potter had become quite good at brewing, but the real eye opener was when Neville Longbottom made three perfect potions in a row.

There was no doubt that having Hermione around had changed him for the better, but he soon felt as if he was no longer the dark potions master who struck fear into the hearts of others. After another two weeks of pleasant potions, Severus Snape felt his own stress levels lowering and his routine barely had to change. He would wake up early to shower before getting dressed and going to wake Hermione up. After bathing her and getting her dressed, the two would make their way to the Great Hall for breakfast.

Classes would go without a hitch, stopping only for lunch, before heading back to his rooms to give Hermione short lessons on a particular subject. Each night would be a different subject and she would be more than happy to read about them during the course of the day. Dinner would be eaten at the teacher's table where Snape would attempt to be civil to a few staff members at least. Harry and Ginny would meet him in his quarters to say goodnight to Hermione. He would sometimes leave them to go brew the Aging potions, but on nights that it wasn't needed he would sit back and grade papers while the three of them would run around playing games.

Both Harry and Ginny were much less annoying than Snape first thought and they clearly cared for their friend. What Snape had started worrying about was just how normal everything felt. Having laughing children playing in his presence was something he never thought he would be ok with, but here he sat, book in hand while Harry Potter chased Ginny and Hermione around.

They were polite enough to not run circles around his chair and both the Gryffindors were well mannered towards him. Snape's thoughts were cut short when a ball of wild curls jumped into his lap laughing hysterically. Putting his book down, Snape gathered Hermione in his arms and tickled her causing her to scream playfully. Never had he dreamed he would be so attached to the child know-it-all.

Harry and Ginny ran over with concerned looks upon hearing Hermione's screams, but soon stopped when they came across something they never thought they'd see. Severus Snape was smiling as he lifted Hermione in the air. Standing, he threw her in the air and caught her as she laughed. He placed her on the ground he playfully growled at her and she went running into her room followed closely by Snape who was stomping his feet on the floor.

The closer he got to her room, the slower he stomped until he saw her standing on her tree house with a vine in one hand and her sword in the other. Without any warning she let out a battle cry and swung towards Severus. Before he knew it, he was catching Hermione and pretending to be knocked to the ground. Harry and Ginny returned to the room to find Snape being "killed" by Hermione.

Although at first, it had been strange for the now couple to witness their Potions Master as anything else, but nothing they saw had ever left those walls. No matter how much Ron begged, they knew it would violate his trust which was something they had never expected to gain. The whole scene before them took a drastic turn when Hermione spoke.

"Sev'rus?" She asked sweetly.

The man in question sat up and raised an eyebrow.

"Are you my daddy?" Her eyes wide as she looked at him.

Severus nearly choked; he had never been a father and he had never thought he would be fathering someone, but the question remained.

"No Hermione, I am not you father."

She looked hurt for a moment, but soon looked back at him.

"Do you love me?" Hermione's eyes shone with unshed tears, "'Cause if you do then you could be my daddy."

There was a quiet sob behind him and Severus turned to see Ginny crying, Harry held her as he too felt like crying, but neither moved to help. It was then that Snape realised that they already knew the answer. Pulling Hermione into his lap and cursing himself for becoming so soft, Severus started brushing her hair with his hand.

"Of course I love you sweet, but I can't be your dad." She let out a cry and asked why not, "It's all a bit complicated right now and you know that I can't tell you things if you haven't told me the things I need to know first."

He was of course referring to her parents and why she was so reluctant to talk about them. Almost as if she was stealing herself for the conversation, Hermione took a deep breath.

"Ok, but you gotta promise to be my daddy after." The pointed look she gave him caused Severus to chuckle.

"We'll see, but I can't go making promises until I have all the facts." Hermione nodded her understanding.

After a long pause, Snape was about to prompt Hermione when she started crying.

"I want you as my daddy 'cause you don't hit me!" She suddenly blurted out.

The room went silent, but she didn't stop there.

"You don't pull my hair or break my toys or call me names and you don't have a mummy so you can't hit her too."

Hermione cried until she had worn herself out and fell asleep in his arms, clearly already being tired beforehand. After moving as little as possible, Snape grabbed his wand and levitated her into her bed before motioning for the two Gryffindors to follow him. Once her bedroom door was shut, Snape cast a silencing spell at the door and turned to face Harry and Ginny. The red head was crying her heart out, while Harry did his best to calm her.

Taking a deep breath to calm his own feelings on the matter, Snape pointed to the couches and they all took a seat. The clock on the mantel piece chimed ten o'clock and as they waited for it to finish, Ginny had caught her breath and was wiping her face with her hands.

"Did either of you know that she was being abused?" Severus had tried to ask the question nicely, but it sounded more like an accusation.

"I know she didn't like going home over Christmas, but I always figured it was because she thought we would get into trouble." Harry offered.

"I remember seeing a scar on her lower back, but she told me it was from falling off of her bike when she was ten." Ginny hiccupped, "But now…"

She trailed off as her question was implied and Snape shook his head as he too rubbed his face with his hands.

"You two should get to bed," His voice was calm and quiet, "I don't need to tell you that if you utter a word of this to anyone you will have detention for the rest of your schooling days."

They both nodded, but when he looked up he noticed only one of them had left. The door shut with a soft click and he raised an eyebrow at Harry who was still sitting there. He sighed heavily and went to stand in front of the slowly dimming fire. His shadow was cast on to opposite wall as he hung his head slightly.

"What is it Potter?" His voice was not the same one would hear in his classroom.

"I just wanted to say thank you, Sir." He ran a hand through his hair, "And I know it's none of my business, but you seem to make a great dad. So thank you for everything."

"I don't think that's…" He was cut off by Harry standing quickly.

"Look, you've done a lot for us," The younger boy stood next to his Professor, "I didn't realise it before, I mean Hermione always trusted you, but seeing you with her; it just proves it. You're a good man, Sir."

Severus turned to see no mocking look on his face, but a steely look of determination. Harry nodded before he stepped towards the door, but was stopped by a hand on his shoulder.

"You're nothing like him." Snape swallowed some of his pride, "I apologise for how I have treated you Potter, maybe one day you'll understand why, but right now just know that I did what I had too."

"Sir," Harry gave a loop sided smile, "I may not be the smartest kid here, but I'm starting to realise that people aren't what they seem and whatever you're reasons are, they must be important to you and that should be enough for anybody."

Momentarily speechless, Snape merely nodded and let the enigma that was Harry Potter walk out his door. Sitting down on his couch, book forgotten, Severus called an elf to bring some tea and biscuits. He knew that this new development would need to be shared with the Headmaster, but something that the Potter boy said was bugging him. He spoke of people not being what they seemed, but it felt like he wasn't just referring to Severus. Maybe the boy was catching onto his beloved Albus with all his plotting and lies.

In another three weeks it would be the Christmas holidays and many of the students would be leaving to spend time with their families. He had been invited to the Burrow and by invited he of course meant threatened to be hexed if he didn't show up. He didn't mind going even with the sickening amount of red hair that bounced around the place. It was the happy family environment that he had missed out on as a child and both Molly and Arthur always made him feel welcome. Normally his stay only extended for a couple of days, but he had a feeling that this time around he would be trapped for at least a week.

Summoning a quill and piece of parchment, Severus wrote a quick letter to Molly to let her know that he would be bringing an extra person with him and that he would explain things when he got there. He was till surprised at how much Albus was willing to neglect when it came to the Order meetings. Why he was still allowed to host those meetings, Snape would never know. The old man would give Salazar Slytherin a run for his money.

All the stress he had lost in the last few weeks seemed to come flooding back in a few short minutes and he could feel a headache following close behind. He rubbed his eyes and decided that a shower would help. Hauling himself off of the couch he caught sight of the tiny figure in the doorway to his room. Her hair was a mess and she was barely keeping her eyes open.

"Hermione, what are you doing out of bed?" Severus walked over a picked her up.

"I had a nightmare." It was now that he could see her tear streaked face.

"You know what we say about nightmares…"

"That they're just our imagination playing tricks on us." Hermione recited as if it was obvious, "But they still scare me."

She clung to the front of his shirt as he carried her back to bed and by the time he tucked her under the covers, she was already softly snoring. Brushing a strand of hair out of her eyes, Severus looked down at the child that had thrown his world upside down. He didn't know when her birthday was, but he knew that he should probably get her something for Christmas. Molly was going to love having a baby girl in the house and he was never going to hear the end of it. Wondering how well everyone was going to take the news, the urge to have a hot shower became stronger.

An early night was something that rarely happened, but when it did, Severus knew there was something right around the corner to stuff it up. Quietly shutting the door over, he made his way to the shower and stripped off as the water heated up. After a relatively short shower, Severus climbed into bed in nothing but his boxers.

At around five thirty in the morning a small pair of freezing cold feet made contact with Snape's back and his eyes flew open as he jolted away from them. At some point Hermione had crawled into his bed and was now taking up about the same amount of space as a hippogriff. Not really having the strength to take her back to bed, Severus simply turned over and went back to sleep.

"Insufferable Know-It-All." He mumbled as he pulled the covers back over his chest to hide his scars.

When morning came Severus slipped from the covers to go and get dressed, when he was clothed he returned to wake Hermione for her bath. She sleepily got undressed and with a bit of help from her new step ladder, clambered into the bath. Snape brushed his teeth while she washed herself and when she was finished she was wrapped up and sent to get dressed.

"It will be cold so don't forget your coat." Severus hollered through his quarters as he pulled on his own coat and boots.

A few minutes later Hermione emerged in her favourite dragon hide boots, jeans, a plain white shirt, black coat and her blue scarf. She was still half asleep when her hair was brushed, but managed to follow Severus to the main hall. The air in the Great Hall was thick with tension and it was only when Snape sat down and started reading his Daily Prophet did he know why.

"_Four Dead in Mysterious Accident: Two muggles and their nine year old twins where all found dead in their family home early this morning by neighbour. The twins had started showing signs of magical abilities not long after their birthdays in February. These suspicious deaths are similar to those of several know muggle rights activist this October. For more information read Article 36 page 12."_

Severus hid his concern well, but the rising fear in his chest quickly crushed the small appetite he had and instead he merely pushed his food around. He had voiced his concerns to Dumbledore the night he returned from Voldemort that he had started targeting young children. Unfortunately the old wizard protested, stating that Tom wasn't that kind of evil overlord. Chancing a glance at the man in question, the guilt was evident. Instead of rubbing in the fact that Dumbledore stuffed up, Severus took a deep breath to prepare himself for class.

During lunch he had been called to the Headmaster's office and received an apology for the old man's negligence, but Snape would have none of it. He had shouted and cursed and thrown hexes around the room until he realised the performance he was putting on wouldn't bring the twins or anybody else back to life. He had left the destroyed office in such a huff that he cancelled his last two classes and left a small homework project. He knew that it was cruel leaving a note on the dungeon doors with the homework on it because once word got out that there was no class, no one would bother to check what the note said. It was the small things in life he enjoyed the most.

The rest of his day was spent with Hermione, helping her with her reading. He had considered giving her back her wand just to see what she could do, but he wasn't sure if it would fall under the Ministry's 'Children Without Wands' policy. No child under the age of eleven, or one who has yet to be given an acceptance letter to a Wizarding School, or if the child has show no magical abilities by the pre-mentioned age is allowed to wield a wand. There were of course allowances to the rules, but he didn't quite know what they were or if her being on Hogwarts grounds would be enough. The last thing they wanted was for the Ministry too come poking their noses into places it didn't belong.

His previous opinion on the young girl's intelligence had been severely miscalculated. She soaked up knowledge like oxygen; she loved being given a new book and since Severus had started giving her homework, she only grew further. As another week rolled by, she was over half way through the books he had bought for her and if he took too long to get her a new one she would merely start on his personal collection. Severus had about four bookshelves worth of books, but many of them were the only copy in existence and the rest were quite rare. He felt his ego being boosted every time Hermione said she preferred his books to her own.

It was another week closer to Christmas and controlling the students excitement felt like a full time job. There were always more mistakes during this time of year, but to Severus's surprise he was yet to have one. Maybe his relaxed attitude was helping, but he had a sneaking suspicion that it may have been Hermione's doing. He had left her in charge of his fifth year Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws for ten minutes while he dealt with two troublemakers outside his door. By the time he got back, the entire class was dead silent with very pale and scared looking faces staring at Hermione.

Not one child would tell him what she had done, even when threatened with detention with Filch. Despite not being told, word seemed to spread in hushed whispers and he had to struggle to deduct points. He took five points from second year Gryffindor for sneezing, but it didn't make him feel better. Snape even went as far as asking Harry, but the boy insisted that he didn't know anything on the subject and suggested that Hermione had done some accidental magic that scared them. Severus considered this as a plausible explanation as she was learning incredibly fast and had once enchanted her favourite toy dragon to fly and hit him in the head. She had apologised for an hour and had sat quietly in her room reading for the rest of the night.

The main problem staff was having, was sorting out who would chaperone the students to their last Hogsmead trip before terms end. Severus always took the last shift as he would only have to deal with the sixth and seventh years. Although he was more likely to find students snogging in all kinds of places, there was less chance of one of them getting lost. The first time he lost a student on his watch, Snape nearly had a panic attack only to find sulking in a corning about not being able to see his parents over the holidays. From that day on he never looked after the younger students. But now there was the problem of Hermione.

If she came with him, the students would be able to hear her name and someone would eventually connect the dots. If she didn't come along with him, he would need to find someone to look after her while he was on duty. As he sat at the dinner table staring holes into his mashed potato, a small voice dragged him from his thoughts.

"Sev'rus?" Hermione had finished most of her dinner and was politely waiting for Snape to finish his.

"Yes?" He sounded tired, but he was never rude towards her.

"What did your 'tatoes do wrong?" She pointed and the lumpy mass.

"Excuse me?" He looked taken back, but the comment drew the attention of a few staff members.

"You look like you wanna kill them," Her eyes widened, "But they're already smooshed, see?"

She grabbed her fork and stabbed into his mashed potato to prove her point, but then scooped up a large helping and stuffed it in her mouth. Severus furrowed his brow and scowled slightly.

"I stole your 'tatoes!" She sung with her mouth full.

A few of the staff chuckled, but Minerva let out a howl of laughter as she watched the girl do it again; too fast for Severus to stop her. By this time a large amount of students were watching as well; waiting to see if the Potions Master would finally snap at her.

"What is it you think you're doing?" Severus was only pretending to be mad and Hermione knew this, but no one else did.

"I stole your 'tatoes," With this Hermione stood up on the table and put her hands on her hips, "Whatcha gonna do about it?"

Severus also stood; he stared down at Hermione for a second before simply leaving the Great Hall. At first he was sure Hermione would follow him, but to his surprise her tiny footsteps could not be heard trailing behind him. He stood in the hallway for a few minutes, before quickly poking his head around the corner to see where she was. As soon as he glanced into the Great Hall a voice shouted at him.

"I see you!" Hermione was still standing on the table as she pointed at him.

Knowing he had been caught, Severus calmly stood so that he was in plain view and waited. Hermione danced on the table, much to the teacher's entertainment as she sung about his stolen vegetables. Minerva clapped along to her disjointed song while Albus danced in his chair. Her song was cut short by a simple cough from the other end of the room. All eyes of him, Snape merely raised an eyebrow and pointed to the space next to him. In a second, Hermione was clambering down from the table and running towards Snape. As soon as she was in front of him, he picked her up and threw her high in the air, just as he always did before stepping away.

The entire school, including staff let out a collective gasp as the three year old fell back down with no one to catch her. Just as before, she stopped inches from the floor before slowly descending in a fit of giggles. As he looked out over the students, right up the Minerva he smirked as if to say 'Gotcha' before turning to leave with Hermione in tow. Just as he was leaving he heard the Head of Gryffindor speaking.

"I thought he was going to bloody kill her over some mash potatoes!"

During the walk back to his rooms, Severus smiled to himself as he thought about his little prank and the woman he had scared. Then his thoughts travelled back to his original problem; finding someone to watch Hermione. Minerva would be a pretty good choice if she followed his rules and god knows she's been bugging him to have five minutes alone with 'the little darling'. As he got Hermione ready for her bath and bed, he knew he had already made up his mind. His new problem was asking her in a way that didn't make her act cocky or make him look bad.

There was a staff meeting the following day to discuss who was taking what shifts for the Hogsmead weekend. Severus hated staff meetings because they were generally early in the morning and extremely boring. His alarm sounded an hour and a half earlier than usual and with as much effort as a rock, Snape leapt from his bed. Mornings were the Potion Masters sworn enemy, only one notch below The Dark Lord himself. Slowly dragging himself from the toasty warm confides of his bedding, Severus Snape grumbled all the way to the shower. After showering and dressing himself an even more difficult task lay ahead of the spy. Doing the same with Hermione.

Never had he met his match in his dislike for mornings until meeting the Gryffindor princess; especially as a child. Making no effort to hide his wariness, Snape pushed open the door and stepped up to her bed. Sometime during the night, Hermione had turned herself around so she was laying upside down in bed. Her hair was a mess and a small patch of drool had formed on her blanket as she slept with her mouth open. Bracing himself, Severus gently shook the young girl until her eyes opened.

"What?" She snapped.

"Hermione, you need to get up." Snape learnt that remaining calm was the key. "We need to head to the staff meeting before class."

"No."

Severus bowed his head in annoyance; it was too early for this. Picking up the barely awake child, he marched to the bathroom, popped her on the stool and started running her bath. Seeing that there was no way out of it, Hermione got undressed and climbed into the tub. She was washed and dried with her eyes half shut and by the time she was dressed, Hermione could at least fake being awake.

Snape buttoned up her black coat and tucked her blue scarf into the front, her dragon hide boots had been polished the other day and finally her hair was the last thing to tackle. A quick drying spell caused her hair to bounce around her head as the curls were no longer weighed down and damp. Pony tails were the only way to go; Snape reasoned that it wasn't a good idea to leave her hair down to get knotty.

Instead of making her walk, Severus picked up Hermione and marched to the Headmaster's office. By the time he got there, the young girl was fast asleep again and he was forced to sit next to Minerva and Filius. The old woman cooed at Hermione as Severus scowled and told her to keep quiet so not to wake her up. A hush fell over the staff as they watched Severus's usually fluid motions being hindered by the sleeping child. Once he was finally seated with Hermione safely in his arms he noticed her shivering. Although the fire was lit, it was at the opposite end of the room. Sighing heavily, Severus was forced to ask for help. He managed to grab his wand with his free hand without disturbing Hermione's snoring, he then turned to the Head of Gryffindor.

"Give me your handkerchief." He whispered harshly.

"Severus, I will not give you anything if you don't ask nicely." Her Cheshire grin was barely contained.

"Please may I borrow your blood handkerchief?" His voice slowly rising.

"I guess that's the best I'll get." Smiling, Minerva handed Severus her deep green handkerchief.

Snape snatched it from her hand before she could change her mind and in one shift movement he threw it in the air, hit it with an enlarging charm and caught it. The now blanket sized piece of material was placed over Hermione and tucked in around her body. After glaring down at the room full of prying eyes, Severus looked down to see Hermione had stopped shaking. He pulled her a little closer as Albus entered the room.

The meeting was in fact boring, just as predicted. Around twenty minutes in, Hermione had woken up to a room full of people and had become very shy. She hugged Severus closer, but eventually she was pulling on his cloak and playing with his hair, asking him how long they were going to be and was soon told to go bug someone else. And she did. Each staff member was introduced to her little hand shake, picked up for Ron and Harry and the questioned. The only one she avoided was Hagrid; still scared of his size and booming voice.

She eventually wound up being bounced on Dumbledore's knee as she was fed candy by the handful, much to Snape's annoyance. The old man knew that Hermione was only allowed sweets when she had been particularly good. Hermione still had the bag of tooth decaying candy that Harry had bought her at Honeyduke's. Severus chanced looking up from his spot on the wall to see chocolate smeared across the small girls face. Her eyes were darting back and forth and she was giggling at the smallest things.

Hermione Granger was on a sugar high that would make dealing with her today very difficult. Albus may have thought he was being nice, but he wasn't the one who would have to stop her from bouncing off the walls. Severus cleared his throat; successfully interrupting the meddling old man and pointed to the floor in front of him. Hermione jumped off of Dumbledore's knee and ran to stand in front of Snape. He shook his head as he grabbed her hands and forced them to open. The chocolate she had been holding had melted through her fingers and he could see marks on her sleeve where she had wiped her mouth.

Snape raised an eyebrow and Hermione's expression changed from being excited to embarrassed; she knew she had done wrong. Making a point of looking in Albus' direction, Severus stood and straightened his robes.

"I will take my normal shift, but for now I need to go and re-bath Miss Granger before class." He didn't pick her up, afraid of getting chocolate on his own clothes. "Minerva, if you would be so kind as to pick Hermione up before I leave to look after the idiot children in this school, I would be most grateful."

Knowing better than to start cooing over the child now while Severus was in such a state; the older woman nodded politely.

"Of course Severus, I will discuss her routine with you this evening if you're free."

"That will be fine, after dinner if possible." With a billowing of his robes, Severus left the Headmaster's office, leaving Hermione to trail behind him.

He didn't put her in the bath again, there was no point. Instead she changed her coat to her blue one after washing her face and hands in the sink. Severus then sat her down and had a discussion about telling people 'no' when they offer her candy. He explained that too much chocolate was bad for her and she would understand in a few hours when she was feeling tired and sick. Hermione was quiet and said she was sorry for upsetting Severus and making him miss his meeting. She promised not to do it again and they were on their way to breakfast. The Great Hall was alive with activity, by the time they got there it was halfway through the meal. Children chatted loudly, trying to be heard over each other, knives and forks scratched at the plates. Severus could feel a headache coming on already, but he bit his tongue as he sat down to eat.

Hermione didn't eat much, but he knew that would happen; she was already full on sugar. She seemed paler than usual and he contemplated letting her feel sick instead on giving her a Stomach Settling potion. Finishing the plateful of food in front of him, Severus picked Hermione up and headed to class. He took her into his rooms and grabbed two potions. The first one was the Stomach Settling potion and she was instructed to only drink half. The second was a dreamless sleep potion, of which she only took a tiny sip.

"This will make you tired, but it shouldn't last long." His voice was soft and caring, "It's better to sleep off the Stomach Settling potion than try to work through it. It will work better that way."

Hermione nodded as her eyes had already began to close. He tucked her back into bed and promised to come and check on her at lunch time, but his words fell on deaf ears as she started to quietly snore.

Lunchtime came and went, but when Severus came to check on Hermione she was still asleep with no sign of waking. He ate lunch in his rooms just in case she did stir from her slumber, but she never did. Feeling a little worried about her need for so many hours of sleep, Snape cast a diagnosis charm over her. The green aura that glowed above her head showed that she was still sick from the amount of lollies she had ingested, but she also had a cold slowly creeping in. When she woke up, Severus decided to give her the potion that should get rid of the cold before they headed to dinner.

Still feeling a little groggy from sleeping for so long, Hermione barely ate her dinner as well and it was only because of Snape that she ate any at all. She was carried back to their rooms where she was placed on the couch and told to read before her bed time. At that point she apologised again for eating so much candy and that she understood why it was only good in small doses. They were both settled in and reading when the flu network burst into flames and Minerva McGonagall stepped through. Severus stood and greeted her and waved her into the spare single seater couch that sat next to his.

Hermione waved politely, but continued reading the book that was nearly as big as she was. Snape marked his page and set his book down on the coffee table.

"Dear me Severus, you've got her reading that thing?" Minerva's shocked voice asked.

"She likes reading and that book in particular will be helpful for her to memorise."

"But it's as big as she it," The older woman leaned close to read the title, "Surely she can't understand all of that?"

"There are a few words that slow her down, but she in more than capable of understanding the material." Severus knew that most of that was due to his teaching and he felt proud of her proress.

Snape could almost picture the annoyed tail swishing behind his guess. As if she wanted to push the matter further, but knew it wasn't wise.

"Now, I will be taking the Saturday shift from ten thirty to five. Not enough time for you to undo all her learning, but there are rules." Severus became very serious, "You will not…"

He was cut short by a knocking at his door, he had completely forgotten that Harry and Ginny would come to visit their friend. Standing, he excused himself and opened the door to his private rooms. Both Harry and Ginny said their 'hellos' and 'how are yous' to their sour Professor who in turn politely responded, "Good evening," and "I've been better."

Minerva was throw by his willingness to converse with, from what she had been told, two of his most hated students. They both said good evening to her as well, but as soon as Hermione saw them she was all smiles. She launched herself from the couch and hugged her two friends as if they would disappear at any second.

"Hermione, you will not be swinging around this evening." Snape instructed.

"Yes Sev'rus, I know. I'll good, I promise." She ran up and hugged him and he lifted her up to hug her back.

"Harry, she's been rather ill today so try to stop her from running around."

"Is she okay Sir?" Harry asked as he looked at Hermione.

"The Headmaster gave her a bucket load of candy for breakfast and she hasn't eaten properly all day." He handed the small girl over to the fiery red head, "Perhaps you two could get some assignments done while she reads."

"I did plan on doing my charms essay when we got back, but maybe a quiet night will be best." Ginny held Hermione on her hip.

"You two know where the books are kept," He turned and grabbed a piece of parchment from a small table in the corner of the room. "Potter, you must remember to expand on you reasoning for each paragraph, not just the first one."

"Yes Sir, do you have another essay for me?" Harry took his marked essay from his Potions Master and read over the review.

"You will write a short essay on the dangers of adding or removing certain ingredients from a potion without the proper research." A quick smirk darted across his lips, "I believe you have already witnessed what it can do."

They both turned to Hermione who was living proof of what could happen. Not only was she three years old from a potions accident, but no one would ever forget her poly juice fiasco. The boy nodded his understanding before turning to go to Hermione's bedroom to set up a study station. Ginny smiled as Severus summoned the hair brush for his nightstand and gave it to the Weasley girl.

"Behave yourself Miss Granger." Severus smiled, a small smile.

"I will." Hermione blew him a kiss and he pretended to catch it.

When he returned to his chair he was all too aware of the look he was getting. Minerva had sat quietly in her seat and watched the entire exchange between Severus and the three younger Gryffindors.

"Not a single word woman," He warned "Or I'll call off this whole thing."

"But I just can't believe that you…" She was silenced when Snape raised his hand.

"Not a word." He reinforced.

The Transfiguration Professor pursed her lips, trying to stop the flow of questions that threatened to pour out. Their conversation consisted of the rules that were to be followed, why he was ignoring Albus and finally the Aging Potion.

"So how far along are you?"

"If I add the ash from a phoenix fire in four nights time, that will mark the halfway mark of the second trimester." Severus rubbed his temples, "This potion takes time and I worry about how she will be when she returns to her normal age."

Minerva didn't say anything, in case her words stopped this sudden insight into his life.

"Have I taught her enough? Will she remember any of her time as a child? What if it doesn't work?" Snape hung his head, "This potion isn't used very often and the documented cases of when it has are vague at best."

"Severus, you worry over 'what if's' when it is clear you care about her. Even if she does forget, there are two people in there who will never forget what you have done for their friend." The aging witch smiled as she stood, "You share the same worries of every parent." Without another word she was gone.

He waited until it was time to send the two Gryffindors on their way before he entered Hermione's room. He helped he get changed into her pyjamas and tucked her into bed. She let out a large yawn as he sat on the edge of the bed, he gently brushed her hair out of her face before he lent down and kissed her forehead.

"Goodnight Hermione."

"Night Daddy."

He knew it was a slip of the tongue that he would normally correct, but it felt good to have someone who he cared about and who cared about him in return.

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**Feelings? Thoughts? I made this one a bit longer to say sorry for the lack of updating. Worth it?**

**Next chapter should have Christmas at the Burrow.**

**-Captain Zex**


	8. Chapter 8

**Please don't hurt me! I know I took a while to update, but this one is much longer. I know I promised the burrow and Christmas, but I felt I would be skipping a fairly large time frame. It's still full of fun though.**

**I just know you'll love this chapter nonetheless.**

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It felt like the weekend had snuck up on him, Severus was sure he had only blinked and suddenly he was surrounded by yelling and screaming. The snow was thick and crunched around his boots, the bottom of his pants leg was wet and his nose felt frozen. A scowl was placed firmly on his face to deter any student who might ask something of him. Today had not been a good day and it had started the second he was forced awake.

Once upon a time, about six hours ago, Severus Snape lay in his bed, warm, happy and most of all… Asleep. But that soon changed when the demon known as Hermione Granger came bounding into his room at some ungodly hour of the morning and pounced on him. Her tiny hands and feet felt like ice compared to his toasty warm body. He knew she was only excited about being able to spend the day with Minerva, but his grumpy morning habits had been interrupted. It was only when she gasped loudly did he actually open his eyes.

Hermione had a bad habit of sitting on Severus and using his body as her own personal jungle gym; presently she sat on his stomach. His eyes cracked open to see her pointing to his left shoulder while her other hand covered her mouth. He had always been so careful to hide his scars from her; the older ones were easy as most of them were as pale as he was. Unfortunately, the one she was pointing at was his newest one and it was angry and red with jagged looking edges. Feeling exposed, Snape pulled the blanket higher, only to have Hermione pull it back again.

"Did the monster do that to you?" She asked quietly.

"It's ok Hermione, it's healed now."

"I will kill him." She stated as the fire in her eyes only enforced her point, "I will kill that monster."

After that, the morning routine went back to normal and after her bath, Hermione and Severus left to have breakfast. There were more accounts of Death Eater attacks and Snape was becoming worried at his lack of an invite. It wasn't that he wanted to go, but the Dark Lord always summoned him nonetheless. He was lucky to have his cover as a professor to keep him from too much, but it almost felt as if he was being excluded on purpose. He would inform Albus of his thoughts if he thought it would help, but the old man would tell him to keep up the good work and that it was probably nothing. When he had questioned as to why the Order was yet to know about Hermione's situation, he was smiled at.

"Wouldn't it be a lovely Christmas present for Molly?" And that was all that he had to say on the matter.

Severus knew that the Headmaster was smarter than he let on and he was most likely planning something without telling anyone. He would wager a hefty satchel of Gallons that Harry didn't even know about Dumbledore's past or that he had a brother. That boy would die before he knew everything about that man.

Breakfast was uneventful and in no time at all he was stalking down the corridors towards the private quarters of Minerva McGonagall. The portrait swung open at their arrival and Hermione was swooped off the floor and cuddled thoroughly.

"Oh it's been such a long time since I got to take care of such a wee little lass" Her Scottish accent making Hermione laugh.

"Behave yourself woman," Severus pushed his way into the room and placed a bag onto the table, "Right, she has two books to read and some coloured pencils to draw with. This is Smokey."

He pulled out the stuffed dragon toy and gave it to the young girl who squeezed it, causing smoke to spill from its nostrils. Hermione was put on the floor and told to sit on the couch by the fire; she nodded and grabbed the smaller or the two books. She set herself up on the couch and began reading, within moments she was completely engrossed. Severus then turned to Minerva and checked his watch; he would have to leave in a minute.

"No baby talk, no smothering and no letting her out of your sight." He leaned closer, "That bracelet may protect her from harm, but it doesn't stop her getting lost."

"She'll be fine Severus, it a few hours, not a week." The greying woman led him to the door, "How much trouble can she be?"

The door was shut behind him and taking a deep breath he made his way to the front gates of Hogwarts to check permission forms. He knew he was worrying for no reason, but he had been reluctant to even have Hermione babysat in the first place. In his mind, no one could protect her like he could. Could Minerva kill someone if it came down to it? Probably not. Severus on the other hand wouldn't blink.

As he trudged down the winding path he could hear the chatter of excited students as they waited for him to arrive. He could see Potter and the two Weasley's at the front of the line, laughing and smiling. What he wouldn't have given as a child to have that kind of friendship. Harry and Ginny had come to see Hermione nearly every night since her accident. It was coming up on four months now. In four short months, his life had changed more than he ever thought it would, but upon reflection, he wouldn't change it. He would never let anyone other than Harry and Ginny see this new side of him. Minerva had only caught a glimpse, but those two children had heard him laugh, seen him smile and even had conversations.

Shaking his thoughts from his head, Snape walked up to the front of the line and folded his arms. No words needed to be spoken; his presence was enough to send a hush of the small crowd. With a raise of his eyebrow the students shuffled into a wonky line. He turned his back on them as he removed his wand and lowered the defensive charms on the gate. Spinning back around he held out his hand and the first permission form fell into it.

Harry Potter's name was at the top of the form while Vernon Dursely's heavy handed signature was at the bottom. Severus knew about Harry's time under the stairs and of the beating he endured before coming to Hogwarts. They were nothing compared to the belting he had received as a child, but no child should be hit by an adult. He nodded and handed the form back. Next was Ronald. He still shook a little under Snape's gaze, but not nearly as much as he used to. He nodded and handed back the form.

Ginny smiled and handed her form over, Severus noticed the little hand written note on the side of the page.

"_Mum sent me a letter asking about Hermione. Should I send her one back?"_

"No." He mumbled, only loud enough for her ears.

She nodded and took back her form before racing after the two boys. No doubt Molly was concerned, she would have heard about Hermione's accident, but not the details. That woman seemed to stick her nose if a lot of people's business; she was nearly as bad as Albus.

When he reached the end of the line, he turned on his heel and followed the stream of students that were making their way to Hogsmead. The older students were better behaved than the younger ones; more aware of the punishments they would receive for not following the rules. Severus did a quick scan of the area before heading into the Three Broomsticks for a butter beer. He knew that worrying would only stress him out, but he couldn't help it. He had been raising Hermione for months now; she had a routine, structure and most of all someone she knew. Minerva had only interacted with her a handful of times. If it wasn't for that fact that Severus was looking after them, he would have asked Harry and Ginny.

He waved his hand as he sat in the dusty chair and a butter beer floated his way. One drink before he would start walking around; no child was dumb enough to do something stupid straight away. It usually took a few of them to egg each other on until he had to start deducting points. The butter beer was creamy and very more-ish, you would easily drink five before you knew what you were doing. Severus had a bit more self control compared to the group of sixth year boys that tumbled into the pub. He knew that they would only be served the creamy beverage that he held in his hands, but he always shot the bartender a look as if to remind him.

Tossing back the rest of his drink, he stood and walked right past the boys in question so that they were aware of his presence. He had no desire to hear about which desperate young girl they had talked into doing something they shouldn't. The air was cold as it whipped around his face and through the snow he could already see his first target. A trio of sixth year girls that were venturing a little further than they should be and it was clear where they were headed.

The Shrieking Shack was a popular teenage sneak away for all kinds of unpleasant things; most likely they were to meet some boys. He waited until they were actually out of bounds before he stalked forward, they didn't heard he approach until it was too late. A purposeful cough had all three girls spinning around. After a small rehearsed speech Severus sent them back to the group of students that were at least pretending to do the right thing. Every time he had to use that speech, the one about rules and why they were to be followed and the dangers of not following them, it made him wonder how they survived this long in everyday life.

It was at that point that he spotted the Potter boy looking a bit suspicious. Severus found this odd, in the time he had spent with Harry, the boy was nothing like his rule breaking father and so Snape decided to do some snooping. He followed the boy for an hour and a half and had discovered something. Harry Potter was a good friend.

The suspicious behaviour that he had seen was merely Harry making sure Ginny didn't see him go into the jewellery store to buy her a ring. A very expensive ring. For the rest of Snape's time watching him, he witnessed the boy give money to a fellow student who didn't have enough for their purchase, him help out several students who had fallen in the snow and even bought a dress for a girl who said she would love to have it. After following Harry around and not finding any unbecoming traits in the boy he actually got angry. Severus was jealous of Harry.

Shaking his head he decided to confront the boy and ask him what exactly what he was doing and why. Waiting until Harry had gone off on his own again, Snape swooped in. He grabbed the boys shoulder and spun him around before pushing him into an ally.

"What on Earth are you doing?" Snape had meant to ask in a sane manner, but it didn't quite happen.

"I don't understand sir, have I done something wrong?" Harry looked genuinely confused.

At that moment Severus Snape just realised he had shoved a student into an ally and demanded and explanation for something that hasn't happened. Suddenly embarrassed, Snape took a step back and softened his features a bit. Instead he took a different approach.

"Harry, what are you doing spending all this money on people you barely know?"

"Oh," Harry ran his hand through his hair and smiled, "Mum and Dad left me a lot of money and I've never really known what to do with it, so each Christmas I help out people."

Shaking his head Severus put a hand on Harry's shoulder, "Have you set aside some money for your future?"

"Well yeah, but there's still a lot left." Harry smiled, "I've never cared about money, so I don't know what to do with it now that I've got it. When I won the Tri-Wizard Tournament, I gave all the money to Fred and George to start their business. I really didn't want any more."

Severus was dumb struck and for a moment he didn't know what to say, but he knew he had to say something.

"I want you to stop being so careless with the money your parents left you, whatever you have left put a third of it in your future savings."

"But Sir, my future savings are half of the original amount."

"And now it'll be bigger, Potter, you don't know what's going to happen and you are very lucky to have that money. Just be careful with it."

To be honest, Snape didn't know why he was even talking about the amount of Galleons Harry had in his vault, but the boy nodded and said he promised nonetheless. With another shake of his head Snape told Harry to go back to his friends. He knew the boy was rich, James came from a very wealthy family and Lily had saved every penny since she was five. Unfortunately, Severus came from a very poor background and he felt he would have a completely different reaction than Harry to having that much money.

He was smart for a dunderhead.

Snape went back to watching the student body as they ran around doing last minute shopping. He too needed to finish buying useless crap for people, but he would be damned if he was going to run around like a headless chicken while doing it. All the staff members got an assorted box of sweets from Honey Dukes, but now he felt he had to buy for a few more than usual. Harry had all the money in the world and could buy himself anything he needed so he would have to wait.

Ginny had helped when Hermione needed someone there and so she would receive a new broom. Severus new that she loved flying and that she had tried out for the Quidditch team, once she was in she would need a better broom than the one she had. With his new pay rise, Severus had quite a few Galleons to spare and he felt that the people who had helped him deserved something special. Although it wasn't the best broom that the Soaring Snitch had to offer, it was still nice and fast.

Minerva could expect a small silver bracelet along with her sweets. Albus on the other hand would be getting a swift kick to the shins if Severus had his way, but instead he would get a fish. A small purple thing he had seen in the window of the small pet store. He wouldn't give that old man anymore chocolate for a long time. Hagrid would get a cooking book. The half giant had once expressed his love of food, but lack of knowledge to cook it.

In his shopping adventure, Severus had only deducted thirty points and gave one detention. Shoplifting was a personal hate for Snape, theft was a very low crime to commit and so the Slytherin girl was lucky to only get a detention. Had they been from another house the story would be different, but Severus Snape walked a very fine line and had to be careful with his punishments towards the children of Death Eaters. He returned to his shopping when he realised he only had two more people the buy for. Harry would end up with something money couldn't buy.

Severus was aware that the boy wished to be an Aura, but wouldn't gain entry to the seventh year course without an 'O' in potions. So, Snape decided that he would receive the necessary mark based on the fact that he was one of the most improved students in the class. Although it probably wasn't the most amazing Christmas gift Severus chose to thrown in a couple of books that would help with the Aura training.

Hermione was a tough one, he didn't know if he should get her something that would help her now or when she was re-aged. After the internal battle had lasted several minutes, Severus went with both. He set off towards the mini apothecary; it was nothing like the one in Diagon Ally, but it would have what he needed. As soon as he entered the strange smelling store he saw what he required and purchased it. The potions started kit came with a cauldron, stirring rods, vials and a few ingredients for basic potions. Severus would add to this from his own supply, but he was sure she would love it.

The second gift was a little harder to purchase. Not because it was a rare, but because he couldn't muster up the courage to enter the store. A few days ago, while Harry and Ginny were visiting, Hermione had found his old camera. She had insisted on taking photos with everyone and had loved running around with it. She had taken a nice one of Harry and Ginny that had gone in the red heads photo album. But the photo that was in his hand had been taken by Harry. Snape hadn't realised that the boy had the camera and suddenly there was a moment captured on film.

He had picked up Hermione and hugged her, it had only taken a second, but when he saw the picture he wasn't mad. They were both smiling and it was perfect. Now he stood in front of a shop with a decision that could affect a few things. Sighing at the fact that he had become too attached to the child, he stepped into the jewellery store.

It was nearing the end of the day and Severus could see the tired faces of the Hogwarts students as they milled around. Most had finished their shopping, but there were always a few that would be running around trying to get that last present. At first he thought the day was going to end on a high note, but he would never be that lucky. Right the front of the Three Broom Sticks stood Harry and his group of red heads; meanwhile, Draco and his cronies stalked over. Severus had been distancing himself from Malfoy since the potions accident; no use him poking around.

He would have to handle this perfectly or Draco will finally notice that Snape hasn't been as friendly as Lucius had asked him to be. Potter would probably understand why he would be the one getting into trouble, but he still felt wrong. How many friends would Severus need to push away so he could keep his cover? Cursing Dumbledore, the Dark Lord and life as a whole, Snape started walking when the shouting started.

"So Potter, where's your little Mudblood friend? Got herself hurt did she?" Draco mocked, "You won't stand a chance without her."

"At least my friends know their left from their right." Harry chuckled.

Having grown up with Dudley and all the teasing from his cousin, Harry could put up with a lot, but Malfoy knew how to push his buttons. Severus had warned him to let things go and never engage the blonde, but Harry found that difficult.

"Buzz off Malfoy." Ginny waved her hand in a shooing gesture.

"You have no right to speak to me, traitor!" Draco reached for his wand just as Snape put his hand on the boys shoulder.

Draco spun around with the full intent of hexing the idiot who had dared to interrupt him, but the curse fell from his lips when he saw the dark shadow of a man behind him. Severus raised his eyebrow and slowly moved his face closer to the now shaking boy. Draco wasn't stupid and he knew his mistake would cost him dearly. Snape's voice was deep and calculating.

"I would drop that if I were you boy." Draco quickly dropped his wand which fell into the snow with a soft crunch.

"Sir he tried to…" Malfoy's argument was cut short.

"You think me stupid?" Severus's outburst had grabbed quite a bit of attention from the other students. "Raising your want to a professor? Did you leave your brain back in the common room?"

Draco floundered for a moment, but he couldn't say a word before Snape pushed him towards the gates. Severus scooped up the wand from the snow and pocketed it and grabbed his own. A burst of red flew up and exploded in the air above his head. Raising his wand to his throat, Snape announced their departure.

"Everybody line up at the gates." His voice boomed across the area.

The students sauntered from all over to line up at the gates and be counted. As he walked past the line with Draco in tow, Severus already noticed six faces missing and sent a patronus to the Shrieking Shack. Severus Snape stood at the front of the line and counted the students as they walked back up the path towards the castle. With Draco getting snide comments from his fellow students about it being his fault they were leaving early, the potions professor felt a bit smug.

Just as the last few students were heading back, the six who had decided to sneak off came running up. All of them were red faced and breathing heavily. The three girls from before had gone off after Snape turned his back and where quickly joined by their male counterparts. Forgoing another lecture, Severus simply deducted twenty points each and a further ten from each of the girl who had disobeyed him. It would seem that Ravenclaw would be coming last in the house cup this year due to a hormone overload.

When everyone was finally on their way back, Snape was left standing with Draco in the cold. He hung back a bit so that their conversation wouldn't be overheard. As the charms were put back in place, Severus glanced at his godson and shook his head sadly. Draco Malfoy was a smart, handsome and charming young boy who would forever been known as the son of a Death Eater. What made Severus sad was the fact that this intelligent boy refused to help himself. He only added wood to the fire as he started fights and verbally abused the muggleborns in the school.

They slowly started walking in the cold snow. Draco kept his head down; at least he was smart enough to look ashamed for what he'd done, even if he didn't feel it.

"Have you lost your mind?" Snape eventually spoke, "Do you know what would have happened if a different teacher was on duty?"

"I knew you would be on and I thought you would let it slide." Malfoy shot back.

"I still have a job to do and if I don't do it properly then I have Dumbledore on my case, do you think the Dark Lord would appreciate you being the cause of his top spy being investigated?"

Draco seemed to think for a moment, "Why haven't you been helping me?"

Severus thought quickly, "After that accident, Dumbledore's been watching me; he thinks it was done on purpose. I have kept my distance so that you're not being watched as well. How would it look if there was an accident like that and I then proceeded to spend my time talking with you in secret?"

Draco nodded slowly, "But you could've told me."

"And here I was thinking you were a grown up boy who could take the Dark Mark and everything." Severus knew it was childish to mock him, but he also knew how the boy would react.

"Fine, I don't need you." Draco huffed, "Just stay out of my way."

Severus held out the boy's wand, who snatched it and began stalking back up the hill. Hoping that Draco would keep his head down for a bit, Snape breathed a sigh of relief as he too went back to the castle. He was intercepted by Hagrid who was happy to chat to him about an abundance of things. The half-giant asked about his health, pleaded with him to stay alive and then proceeded to tell Severus how brave he thought he was and that he could never do what the potions master did each day.

Hagrid had always been kind to Snape and had to carry his body back up to the castle on a number of occasions. It was when the large man started talking about food had Severus realised two things; that he had bought him the right Christmas present and that he was very hungry. Just as they reached the castle, Severus has to pause for a second. He was forgetting something and it would bug him until he remembered what it was. He hadn't left a potion brewing, or missed someone's Christmas present, his wand was in his pocket and he didn't need to post anything.

Furrowing his brow, Severus could feel the annoyance rising as the list of things he could have possibly forgotten was growing shorter. Deciding that it was probably best to think of a full stomach, he continued to follow Hagrid to the Great Hall. Dinner hadn't quite started yet, but there were still a large amount of students sitting at their tables. He could see the daft blonde, Ravenclaw girl sitting with Harry and his friends. Did that girl ever sit with her own house?

Severus walked straight up the middle of the tables and sat in his usual place and that's when it hit him. The thing he was forgetting wasn't a thing at all. It was a person. Hermione was still with Minerva!

Panic quickly spread through his chest as he stood up. His breathing picked up and he had the sudden urge to run to the Head of Gryffindor's quarters and check on them. Just as he had convinced himself to leave and loud voice echoed through the Great Hall causing everyone to turn and look at the entrance.

"Sev'rus!" Hermione's yelled and then giggled as she ran to the Head table, chanting the man's name as she went.

The little bundle of curls leapt into his arms and hugged him furiously, as if he would disappear at any moment. Severus Snape openly showed his affection and hugged the tiny Gryffindor and asked if she had fun while he was away. When he pulled away to look at her that's when he saw her dilated pupils and the fact that her hair seemed to have been electrified. A sneer crept across his features and Hermione stopped smiling.

He looked over to the entrance and watched as Minerva scurried over, but stopped when she realised that Severus was watching her and he already had Hermione. The woman was smart enough not to run off in the other direction, but the look on her face said she was close. The dark man stalked back down the tables and right past the frazzled woman, but she knew to follow. The second they came to an empty classroom Snape ducked inside and locked the door after them. He was fuming, but he refused to take it out on Hermione, because she was a child in a new environment and she should have been looked after.

Placing Hermione on the ground he told her to go find a seat and wait for him to finish. The little girl nodded and found a chair, but she wouldn't stop fiddling with everything that was in sight. It was obvious that she was on some kind of sugar high and she was in for another night of feeling sick. It couldn't have been her own fault; she had promised him that she would eat that much candy again, yet here he was. Had she lied? No, that couldn't be right. Then what?

"Minerva," Severus' voice was low and straining to keep calm, "What did you feed Hermione to make her bounce of the walls?"

"Severus, I am so sorry, I didn't give her anything but biscuits." Minerva pleaded.

"She is clearly not ok." His voice rising. "Now I trusted you to take care of her, you of all people should know how important that is. She isn't difficult to take care of; she reads and takes naps, how hard could it have been?"

"Please, let me explain." Severus nodded and she continued, "We were taking a walk around the castle, she was getting antsy about you being gone so I thought I'd take her mind off of it and show her the library."

"I can tell you now she didn't get like this from reading a book." Severus was now close to shouting.

"We didn't get that far," her anxious, swishing tail could almost be seen behind her, "She saw one of the ghosts, I don't know which one, but she ran after them. I couldn't keep up, she's very quick. When I found her she was standing in the middle of a corridor just laughing. I thought she had seen one of the ghosts go through a wall and was in shock so I took her back to my quarters."

There was a long pause in which Minerva kept glancing at Hermione.

"She tore my room apart Severus, every book, every pillow. She went insane." Minerva was nearly crying, "I didn't know what to do, I thought she might have been cursed, but every test came back negative."

Severus took a step back, "You let her out of your sight?"

"Look at the bigger picture Severus, there is something wrong with her, you can yell at me all you want, but do it after she's better."

"It couldn't have been a curse; her bracelet protects her from almost everything, even dark magic."

"Perhaps she knows." Minerva suggested.

The Potions Master finally nodded and turned to look at Hermione; she was still sitting, but it was clear that she wasn't ok. Carefully approaching the small girl, Snape crouched in front of her and smiled. Hermione visibly twitched when Severus put his hand over hers, something that she would never do.

"Hey sweetie," His voice was a lot happier than a minute ago, "Did you have fun with Minerva?"

"Oh yes," She nodded crazily, "I got to meet a strange man who gave me these."

Hermione reached into her coat pocket and pulled out a handful of small red pill looking objects and gave them to Severus. He picked up one and examined it, but he could feel his temper rise when he saw the two little W's pressed into it. Weasley Wheezes.

"Hermione, this is bad candy, who gave it to you?" Snape tried to stay calm, but he suspected it wasn't working.

"The see-through man who laughs a lot." Hermione explained.

"Peeves." Minerva whispered, "He must have been the ghost she saw."

"I'll deal with him later, our real problem are these," Severus held out his hand to show four little pills, "Most Weasley products come in packs of ten, twenty or fifty, but she only has four which means she's probably eaten six already and I don't know what they are."

"What do we do Severus?" McGonagall was wringing her hands.

"I'll see what I can find out." Dinner forgotten, Snape headed back to the Great Hall with the intent of getting to the bottom of this quickly.

By the time he got back, dinner was in full swing and the noise was not helping his headache. Finding Harry and his friends was not hard; he just needed to look for the red hair. With Hermione on his hip Severus walked up to the Gryffindor table and stood behind Harry.

"You three," He pointed to Harry and the two Weasley's, "With me now."

He had to sound angry so that the rest of the table thought that their classmates were in trouble and not about to help the 'Bat of the Dungeons'. The three students were smart enough to pretend to grumble, except Ron who was genuinely annoyed at having to leave his dinner. Without a word they all marched down to the Potions room and were told to sit down and listen.

"I need to know what these are and how long they take to wear off." Severus handed each of them a pill and waited.

Both Harry and Ginny shook their heads, but Ron was looking very closely at his pill.

"Where did you get these from?" Ron's voice sounded suspicious.

"Peeves gave Hermione some and she's not acting right." Snape explained.

"Well, these are a new line of mood enhancers Fred and George have been working on and they're supposed to work for the whole day, but I thought they were still in the trial stages." Ron handed back the pill, "Why do you just give her the blue one?"

"What blue one?" Snape was suddenly worried.

"The antidote." Ron shrugged, "Fred and George always make antidotes in case the affects don't wear off when you want them to."

Pinching the bride of his nose Severus shook his head again, "Mr Weasley, I want you to think for a second."

Ron nodded and waited.

"If these pills were given to Hermione by Peeves and they aren't even meant to be for sale yet, not to mention I needed your help to find out what they were, why would I have the antidote?"

"Oh right." Ron frown as if in thought, "Sir, how many did she take?"

"I don't know, possibly six. Why?"

"Sir," Ginny interrupted, "All of my brothers stock like this come with a warning on the box. One pill per day and they're not meant for children under twelve. If Hermione's taken six, we're going to need their help."

Knowing that it was the smart thing to do didn't stop the sudden headache that seemed to burst forward. The Weasley twins may be extremely smart when it came to potions, but the number of times that they had detention for experimenting during class was too high to count. Knowing that it was important to not waste time, Severus decided that letters and following procedure would have to wait. Pulling out his wand, Snape summoned his protonus in the shape of a ball and told Harry to talk into it.

"Tell them that they need to be here now and to bring everything they have on these." He held up one of the pills.

It was now that Harry could see just how worried Snape was about Hermione and so he did as he was asked. Severus asked the three Gryffindors to look after Hermione as he went down to the gate, but Ron had to argue.

"Professor, I think it might be better if I came with you." He ran his hand through his hair, "They might think it's some kind of trap if it's just you."

Knowing that Ron wasn't his biggest fan, Severus decided that he was right and left out the sarcastic comment. He sent Harry and Ginny to his private rooms and asked that they try and keep Hermione calm and to not let her destroy things.

Setting off back towards the fronts gates held a whole new air of urgency; it was very rare that Severus Snape headed that direction with any haste. Ron had less trouble than most keeping up with the Potions Master's stride as he was just as tall as the dark man. The red head was berating himself silently for offering to go with Snape. He knew Ginny would have been a better option, but when it came down to it, he would rather walk with Snape than sit with Hermione as a child. He hated himself for that.

Shaking his head to rid his brain of such sad thoughts, Ron tried to hold himself higher, but he suspected that Snape could see right through him. Sometimes, when Harry and Ginny came back from the dungeons each night smiling, he wished he wasn't such a coward. He wished that he could see Hermione and not have his heart ache in his chest. He would sometimes wonder if Hermione would even remember her time as a child when she was back to normal. It was then he knew that he was a bad friend, because if she does remember, then she will know that he never came to see her.

Deep down Ron knew that she would know that he hadn't visited her; even if she forgot everything else. His Hermione was a smart one. But she wasn't his anymore, she was Snape's. He looked across at the man he walked with and saw his own worry mirrored back. If anyone could bring out the best side in someone, it was Hermione.

Severus Snape's mind was a mess. He couldn't remember that last time he felt this much emotion. He was so angry and yet he was anxious to get the twins back to the castle. What was he going to tell them? They didn't fall under the clause and would be able to hear Hermione's name. Not just that, but the twins were smarter than nearly everyone at Hogwarts and would recognise her in a heartbeat. He had wondered more than once why no one else seemed to make the connection, but he reasoned that everyone else was too busy with their own lives to care. The truth would be better and hopefully it would help persuade the Weasley twins that he wasn't evil.

When they reached the gate, there was no one on the other side and so they were forced to wait in an awkward silence. Neither of them wanted to be the first to talk, but they didn't want to ignore each other either. Just as Ron was about to swallow his pride and loud pop rang through the air and the identical twins smiled at their brother.

"Ronald…"

"Getting into trouble…

"Again." The twins were difficult to listen to as they finished each other's sentences, but it got easier.

The hard thing was when they spoke at the same time; it had always amazed Snape that they could do it in perfect sync. Unfortunately it was also the thing he hated most, aside from the red hair.

"Mister and Mister Weasley," Severus tried his new civil tone, "I believe you may need some filling in."

Ron looked at Snape and then back to his brothers and nodded, Snape lowered the wards on the gates and allowed the boys through. Hesitantly, although not as much as Severus anticipated, they followed Severus and Ron back.

"So what's this about then…?"

"We thought it was Harry that needed help…"

"Not you." Fred and George gave each other worried glances.

Severus stopped in his tracks and decided he would handle thongs better than Albus and inform people of the situation, instead of leaving them out to dry. He took a deep breath and thought of the best way to explain things.

"Due to our relationship in the past, I think it best to hear what's happened from someone you trust more than myself." Snape said coolly.

"Seriously guys, it's gonna be a bit to take in." Ron's honesty caused his brothers to nod and not say another word.

As they came closer to the dungeons, Severus could practically feel the boy's nerves vibrating. He gave them credit though; they had made it this far without accusing him of anything, maybe they were alright after all. The door to the potions room was opened and everyone piled in. Severus turned and gave the twin a pointed look and they knew that they were to speak to no one about what happens next.

They were lead to the door behind the shelves and it was held open. Each one, including Ron, believed they were heading to their death, or worse. The scream of a girl caused all of them to cringe, but the giggle that followed made the twins look up.

"Sev'rus!" Hermione came running up to the group in the doorway, "You're back!"

The little girl jumped into Snape's arms and hugged him; she then lent back smiling and shouting that Snape was home. The twin's look of confusion intensified when Harry and Ginny came running from inside to meet them. The waved at each other, but Fred and George were having a hard time picking their jaws up off the floor.

"Sir, she's trashed her room, but nothing's broken." Harry breathed heavily; he must have been chasing her.

"Has she calmed down at all?" Severus asked as her inspected Hermione's eyes for any change.

"No," Ginny stepped up, "If anything she's gotten worse." Everyone fell silent as they watched the girl in Severus Snape's arms practically buzz with excitement.

"Is anyone going to tell us what's going on?" George asked without his brother.

Severus nodded and pointed to the couches in front of the fire where everyone went to sit. At that point the hyped up Gryffindor started shouting about random things. Getting close to breaking point with the level of noise Snape grabbed her and looked her straight in the eyes.

"Hermione, I need you to calm down."

"Hermione?" The twins asked.

Silence once again fell over the rooms occupants.

"Potter, I think you should explain." Severus summoned Hermione's brush and asked her to sit still as he tried to tame her hair.

Harry then took on the difficult task of explaining the last few months' events in the space of about twenty minutes. He was glad to only be interrupted a couple of times and one of those times was Hermione shouting again. When he was finally done he waited for the outrage, the angry comments, but they never came.

"So, you've been looking after Hermione this whole time?" Fred asked.

"Without any help?" George joined in.

"Harry and Ginny have been helping me with the little things and they've come to see her every night." Snape explained.

"So why do you need us?" They asked.

Reaching into his pocket, Snape grabbed the pills, "She's eaten some of these."

He held them out and the boys examined them closely.

"We don't know how many, but we know Peeves gave them to her." Suddenly growing furious, Severus threw the hair brush in the fire and stood to angrily punch the wall. "One time! I let her out of my sight one time and this happens!"

A quiet sob could be heard and Snape turned around to see Hermione crying to herself. Instantly feeling guilty for shouting, he swooped down and picked her up.

"I'm sorry sweetheart," he bounced her on his hip as he walked behind the couches and grabbed the toy dragon from the floor, "I'm not angry at you."

She squeezed it and a large puff of smoke poured from its nose, "Remember what we said about telling people no?"

Hermione nodded and hugged Snape as he took her to his room. Harry and Ginny got up to follow and told the others to do the same. Ron could feel his heart beating in his throat as he entered Snape's personal bed room. He watched as the dreaded Potions Master tucked Hermione in his own bed and kissed her forehead. Without being asked or seeking permission, Ginny climbed onto the oversized bed after grabbing an old Charms book. She sat up against the headboard and opened the book for Hermione to see the moving pictures. Severus was going to say something, but when he saw Hermione's eyelids start to close, he assumed that this was how Ginny got her to sleep.

Severus began pacing the room rubbing his hands together. The twins then witnessed something that seemed to top everything they had already seen that day. Severus Snape, double spy and meanest professor that Hogwarts had seen in years was close to crying. Although he would never let the tears actually run down his face they still shone in his eyes. He stepped over to the twins and placed a hand on each of their shoulders.

"Please help me." And before they knew it, they were seated back in the living room with cups of tea all round.

Ginny had managed to get Hermione to sleep; she even mentioned that she wouldn't have been able to do it if Snape hadn't come back. There was a long silence, no one would dare poke fun at their Potions Master; ex teacher or not. Fred had decided that Snape couldn't be that bad if he was this worried about Hermione. George had decided that he was right to be worried.

"So," Harry started, "What are these?" He said pointing to the pill.

"They're a part of our new adult range," Fred stated.

"We normally only cater to you schoolies," George continued

"Until we realised that we were missing out on an even bigger market."

"Grown ups." They said in unison.

"What do you mean?" Severus asked, "What could you offer adults?"

"We didn't know at first." George admitted.

"Took a while to figure out what you'd want." Fred nodded.

"And then it hit us," George smiled, "The thing that all adults want."

"An escape." The words rang in the air.

The trio of young Gryffindors didn't quite understand, but Snape seemed impressed.

"Everyone, once they finish school is forced to get a job,"

"Settle down,"

"Start a family,"

"And keep working until you die."

Harry seemed to click first, coming from an unhappy home, he too wished for an escape and he could understand the need for the mood enhancer. He could only imagine the other adults only products the Weasley Twins had created. With a title like 'Adults Only' everyone would think dirty, but in actual fact they were giving a group of people something that they didn't realise they needed… Happiness.

"Ok, that's great and all, but how did they get in the school?" Ron waved his arms as he spoke.

"Hence our new range of security products." George spat as Fred slapped the back of his brothers head.

"Security? Why security products?" Harry asked and both the twins suddenly found their shoes very interesting.

"The boys had a break in about two weeks ago." Ginny said, "Mum told me in her last letter, apparently they lost a fair bit."

"We didn't lose that much, she exaggerated." Fred stood up for them.

"Maybe a couple of boxes worth."

"Most of our stuff has a protection charm on the box to prevent anyone walking away without paying."

"Yeah," George got excited, "If they touch the door knob without paying, fireworks go off to say 'THIEF' over their head and the door locks."

"Quite smart really, which is why we were confused."

"Until I pointed out that they only took stuff that was still in the trial stage and didn't have the charm on them."

"Which is why we've upped security and are encouraging others to do the same."

"That could be how they got into the school." George turned to Severus.

"What do they do exactly?" He asked.

"These ones are out best mood enhancers; one pill can turn the feeling of happy into pure ecstasy."

"And sadness into depression." Fred pointed out.

"Why would you have it do that?" Harry asked.

"That's why it's still in trial; we're trying to have it only go the one way."

"But right now, it doesn't."

As if on cue a stomach turning scream erupted from Severus' bedroom and the dark man nearly tripped as he launched himself from the couch. He flew into the bedroom and snatched Hermione from the bed sheets she had managed to get twisted in. She awoke instantly and began crying her heart out. Severus held her close, not sure of what he could do. Hermione shook with fear as her surroundings slowly came back into focus as she realised that she'd had a nightmare.

When she was finally back to sleep, Snape decided it was best if her could keep an eye on her and brought her with him to the lounge room. He sat down slowly and wrapped his cloak around her to keep her warm.

Fred and George suddenly leaned in closer, "There are a few things you must not do."

"Do not give her any potions,"

"No sleeping or calming draughts,"

"If she's taken as many as you say she has,"

"She may never wake up."

"Secondly,"

"You can't let her get upset,"

"Merlin knows how she'll react."

"And whatever you do,"

"Don't let her out of you sight."

Severus had the urge to argue that he wasn't an idiot and that he could take care of a child, but he had already started doubting himself and so his just nodded. The twins asked if they could use the potions room to try and create and antidote and Snape agreed without hesitation.

"We were close a couple of days ago so it shouldn't take long to…"

Fred was interrupted by Harry raising his hand.

"This isn't class Potter, you can just speak." Severus snapped.

"Sorry sir, it's just that I was thinking and well, umm, when a muggle eats something they're not supposed to, there's this stuff they can drink that with make them throw up to get rid of it."

"She took the pills too long ago for that to work." Snape explained.

"But what if we did it the other way?" Ron suddenly spoke.

"What do you mean?" The tall dark man asked.

"I know it's a bit gross, but if she can't throw up the pills, can't you make it come out the other end?" He shuffled his feet around.

"You mean evacuate her bowls?" Snape looked over to the twins "Would that work?"

"These pills are slow releasing to last a long time; it may not get rid of them completely,"

"But it might lessen the effects."

That was enough for Snape, he summoned an elf and told it to go to the hospital wing and fetch a laxative potion. He then gently woke up Hermione and told her that she had to drink the potion and then go to the toilet. She said she didn't have to go to the toilet, but she did anyways. The laxative potion was fairly quick and Severus asked Ginny to stand out the front of the bathroom door and wait.

As ten minutes rolled into thirty and thirty into an hour, but soon enough, Hermione came out of the toilet smiling and starting that she felt much better. She finally got to meet the twins and found the way that they spoke very entertaining. George ran a specified diagnosis spell over her and said that most of the pills effects seemed to be wearing off. Severus hugged Hermione tightly and gave her a soft smile; he kissed her forehead as she let out a huge yawn and then thanked everyone. She was put to bed to sleep off the rest of the pills before Severus asked the twins to stay for a drink.

Harry, Ron and Ginny were given written notes from Severus should they be spotted as such a late hour and then told to get on their way. Each of them, including Ron thanked the Professor. Harry and Ron shook his hand, but Ginny went in for a hug and said that she was glad it was him looking after their friend. Although Severus had never been hugged by a student he let it slide because he knew that Ginny was a good kid and that she would one day prove a lot of people wrong.

Fred and George agreed to a late night drink even if it was to see just what the hell was going on. The sat down on the same couches as Snape poured them both a small glass of Fire Whiskey.

"Do not tell your mother I let you have a drink."

"I don't think she'd believe us." Fred chuckled.

They sat in a comfortable silence as they all sipped their drinks, each reflecting on the night's events and each deciding that they had gone surprisingly well. The silence was only broken when the clock chimed midnight.

"It's getting quite late and I reckon that mother of yours is worried sick." Snape stood and shook each of the boy's hands. "And please don't tell her about Hermione."

"Oh we're not telling her, but we are going to watch when you do." Fred smiled.

The twins then exchanged a look.

"You know, if you ever wanted to get out of teaching,"

"We'd appreciate a Potions Master to help out,"

"I bet it would cut down our experimental stage by at least half."

A small smile spread across his face as Snape actually considered their offer.

"Should everything go as well as we hope and I am still alive, I may just take you up on that."

With that, Severus escorted the twins back down to the gate and let them out; with two small pops, they were gone. As he made his way back up to the castle Severus could feel a weight being lifted. He had never had so many people tell him that he was doing good and they appreciated him much less be offered a job at one of the biggest growing companies the wizarding world had ever seen.

Should he survive the coming war, the Weasley Twin could be expecting a letter on their doorstep. It was nice knowing that he might one day be able to escape the prison so many called home. He looked up at the castle and its dark silhouette was just as foreboding as ever. When he finally made it back to the dungeons, Snape found a small bundle of Gryffindor asleep in his bed. Shaking his head, he got changed and climbed under the covers.

Hermione was safe, Severus was happy and Christmas was just around the corner. What could possibly go wrong?

* * *

**Okay, not what you were expecting, right?**

**Please review to let me know what you think and I will definitely include the burrow in the next chapter.**

**-Captain Zex**


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